Robotic laundry devices and methods of use

ABSTRACT

A robotic system includes a movable platform disposed at a bottom of a work volume, the movable platform being configured to transit outside the work volume, at least three lifters disposed about a perimeter of the work volume, two or more sensors disposed at fixed locations about the work volume, and a memory including a neural network. A controller is in operative communication with the memory, the two or more sensors, and the lifters. The controller is configured to receive output signals from the two or more sensors, determine, based processing on the received signals with the neural network, whether the deformable laundry article suspended by two lifters is repositioned, and instruct, based on a determination of the deformable laundry article being repositioned, the lifters to lower the repositioned deformable laundry article onto the movable platform.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application is a continuation application of U.S. patentapplication Ser. No. 17/332,802, filed May 27, 2021, which in turnclaims priority under 35 U.S.C. § 119(e) to U.S. Provisional PatentApplication Ser. No. 63/030,920 filed May 28, 2020, titled “RoboticLaundry Devices And Methods Of Use,” U.S. Provisional Patent ApplicationSer. No. 63/106,829 filed Oct. 28, 2020, titled “Robotic LaundrySeparating And Repositioning Devices, Systems, And Methods Of Use,” U.S.Provisional Patent Application Ser. No. 63/106,891 filed Oct. 29, 2020,titled “Autonomous Devices, Systems, And Methods For Handling FoldedLaundry,” and U.S. Provisional Patent Application Ser. No. 63/168,555filed Mar. 31, 2021, titled “Autonomous Devices, Systems, And MethodsFor Queuing Folded Laundry,” and is related to related to U.S. Pat. No.11,298,829, filed Jan. 6, 2022, the entirety of each of theseapplications is hereby incorporated by reference.

BACKGROUND

The present disclosure is directed to robotic laundry devices, systems,and methods.

Automating and outsourcing mundane, time-consuming household chores torobotic devices is increasingly common. Time-saving home robots include,for example, floor vacuuming and floor washing robots. Outsourcingresponsibilities include, for example, engaging grocery shopping anddelivery services, and manually operated and human-operator dependentlaundry washing and dry-cleaning pick up and return services.

Many homes are appointed with a dedicated washer and dryer for familyuse. Domestic washers and dryers are increasingly sophisticated andinclude IoT connectivity features and push notifications for alertingusers about cycle progress and energy and resource usage. Thesetechnologically advanced machines, however, require human interactionand cannot eliminate the time required for processing loads of laundryin the home. Although more modern, “high efficiency” machines areequipped with sensors for metering water usage and dryer temperatures,the efficiency gains are capped by the constraints of sequentiallyprocessing single loads of laundry. Grey water is output to the citywater and sewer system for mitigation with each load of laundryprocessed. Energy is consumed with each load of laundry washed anddried.

Households can outsource laundry chores to laundromat facilities for afee in exchange for time. Laundromats offering residential mixed loadlaundering services, however, require human interaction for intake andsorting of dirty laundry, transferring loads from washer to dryer, andthen manually folding clean laundry. These are costly processes asmeasured in time, energy consumption, water consumption, and wastewateroutput, and they rely on human intervention to keep the process runningat every transition and throughout several process steps. This invitesdelays at every stage. Because these processes are human-dependent andinefficient, the costs are passed along to customers outsourcing theirlaundry for cleaning. Human-reliant laundering services also requirethat employees touch the belongings of the customer, potentiallyexposing the employee to contaminants in the dirty laundry andpotentially exposing the clean laundry to transferable pathogens, dust,hair, and other debris emanating from a laundromat employee. In additionto potentially introducing undesirable contact contamination from theemployees processing the loads of laundry, a privacy barrier isbreached. Outsourcing household laundry to a laundromat involvesemployees interacting with customers' personal belongings includingbodily worn garments.

Industrial laundry services exist for handling uniform business-relateditems, such as hospital bed sheets, medical scrubs, and hotel towels.Such industrial machines are tailor-made to accept one type of laundryitem of one size or style. For example, unique folding machines exist toaccept a dedicated one of washed flat sheets, fitted sheets, hoteltowels, and hotel bathrobes. These machines require human operators toload the washed article into its dedicated machine, which is sized anddesigned to fold that one type and size of article. This type of processline relies on a human operator for properly aligning and loading theclean article into the machine, which could introduce bodilycontaminants, bacteria, and viral matter into the clean articles. Likelaundromat services, these industrial services rely on humanintervention and potentially introduce bio-contaminants into clean loadsof laundry. Because these services are only profitable by processinglarge volumes of like items, these industrial processors are generallysubscription-based services for large clients like hotels and hospitalsproducing standard-size, repeat laundry articles and are not availableto consumers at an individual household level. Additionally, theseservices are configured to combine laundry from more than one source andare not configured to isolate and process separate loads for individualhouseholds.

Autonomous robotic devices are provided to process loads of householdlaundry. Such devices eliminate human contact with deformable laundryarticles. As such, the devices need to be designed to be efficient andreliable for replacing the common, human-dependent chore of laundry.

SUMMARY

In one example, robotic system for repositioning a deformable laundryarticle for folding, includes a conveyor disposed at a bottom of a workvolume, the conveyor being configured to transfer the deformable laundryarticle beyond a perimeter of the work volume. The system includes atleast three lifters disposed about the perimeter of the work volume,each one of the at least three lifters includes a gripper and at leastone drive motor and configured to move within the work volume forreleasably engaging the deformable laundry article, and operate at leastone of independently of and in tandem with another of the at least threelifters to suspend the deformable laundry article above the conveyor.The system includes two or more sensors disposed at two or more fixedlocations about the work volume, each of the two or more sensorsconfigured to at least one of detect one or more features and captureone or more images of the deformable laundry article disposed within thework volume, and output a signal including the at least one of thedetected one of one or more features and captured one or more images.The system includes a memory storing data indicative of one or morerepositioned deformable laundry articles; and a controller in operativecommunication with the memory, the two or more sensors, and the at leastone drive motor and gripper of each of the at least three lifters. Thecontroller is configured to receive the output signal from one or moreof the two or more sensors, identify, based on the output signal, one ormore grip points adjacent one or more free-hanging edges of thedeformable laundry article suspended above the conveyor by one of the atleast three lifters, the gripper associated with the one of the at leastthree lifters being engaged with the deformable laundry article andpositioned at a suspension height, instruct another of the at leastthree lifters to grip, with an associated gripper, one of the one ormore grip points on the deformable laundry article and lift the grippedone of the one or more grip points to the suspension height along ashared axis defined by an associated gripper of each of the engaged oneand another lifter, determine whether the deformable laundry articlesuspended by the one and the another of the two or more lifters isrepositioned based on a comparison of the output signal to the dataindicative of one or more repositioned deformable laundry articles, andinstruct, based on a determination of the deformable laundry articlebeing repositioned, the one and the another of the at least threelifters to lower the repositioned deformable laundry article onto theconveyor, and release the repositioned deformable laundry articledisposed on the conveyor.

Implementations of the system may include one or more of the followingfeatures.

In examples, the controller, upon determining the laundry article is notrepositioned, is further configured to detect, based on the received oneor more output signals, a grip point disposed on the deformable laundryarticle below the suspension height, instruct an available gripper ofthe at least three lifters to engage the detected grip point, determinethe available gripper is engaged with the grip point, instruct theengaged available gripper to lift the grip point to the suspensionheight, and instruct the engaged available gripper to release thelaundry article.

In examples, the controller is further configured to iteratively executea loop including detecting, based on the received one or more outputsignals, a grip point disposed on the deformable laundry article belowthe suspension height, instructing an available gripper of one of the atleast three lifters to engage the grip point, determining the availablegripper is engaged with the grip point, instructing the engagedavailable gripper to lift the grip point to the suspension height, andinstructing a longest engaged gripper to release the laundry article,until the controller at least one of: determines a match of the outputsignal to the data indicative of one or more repositioned laundryarticles, exceeds a threshold number of iterations without determining amatch, and exceeds a threshold time limit without determining a match.

In examples, the at least three lifters are disposed about the workvolume at individually anchored positions spaced apart from at least twoothers of the at least three lifters by between about 30 cm to 400 cm.

In examples, the two or more sensors include at least 3 sensors, each ofone of the three sensor is being mounted to a base of the at leastlifters.

In examples, each one of the two or more sensors is calibrated to atleast one of the at least three lifters.

In examples, deformable laundry article is one of a plurality ofdeformable laundry articles including two or more article types of atleast one of different sizes and different shapes and each of the two ormore article types includes a longest dimension of between about 4 cm to500 cm. In examples, the data is indicative of one or more repositioneddeformable laundry articles includes data associated with of each of thetwo or more article types.

In examples, the controller is configured instruct the one and theanother of the at least three lifters to lower the article onto theconveyor at least one of at a rate of movement of the conveyor and alonga non vertical slope.

In examples, the two or more sensors include at least one of a 3-D pointcloud sensor, a 2-D camera, LIDAR, LADAR, a sonar proximity sensor, anultrasonic ranging sensor, a radar sensor (e.g., including Doppler radarand/or millimeter-wave radar), and a pair of stereo depth cameras.

In examples, at least one of the two or more sensors is a 3-D pointcloud sensor, the memory further includes a neural network, and thecomparison of the output signal to the data indicative of one or morerepositioned deformable laundry articles includes an analysis based on aneural network.

In examples, the neural network includes a trained classifier configuredto generate a descriptor indicative of trained class including at leastone of repositioned and not repositioned. In examples, the trainedclassifier includes a plurality of classes trained on images of at leastone of a plurality of article types and sizes of a plurality of laundryarticles.

In examples, the analysis further includes determining whether thecomparison meets or exceeds a threshold confidence value indicative ofan unfolded state. In examples, the controller is further configured toadjust the threshold confidence value after at least one of a period oftime and a number of grips by grippers associated with the at leastthree lifters for determining a match between the repositioneddeformable laundry article and the data, wherein the period of time isbetween about 5 seconds and 2 minutes, and wherein the number of gripsranges between about 2 and 20.

In examples, the at least one drive motor includes a pan motor, a tiltmotor, and an extend motors configured to engage an extendable arm, theextendable arm including no more than one joint and terminating at anassociated gripper including at least two actuatable fingers.

In examples, the extendable arm includes a monolithic arm including nojoints and being configured to fixedly receive thereon a wrist assemblyincluding the associated gripper and at least one of an actuatableswivel joint and an actuatable hinge joint disposed between theassociated gripper and the arm. The actuated joints can be in operablecommunication with the controller.

In examples, the controller is further configured to instruct at leastone of the one and the another of the at least three lifters engagedwith the deformable laundry article to rotate a shared axis betweenassociated grippers of the engaged lifters perpendicular to a rundirection of the conveyor prior to instructing the one and the anotherof the at least three lifters to lower the repositioned deformablelaundry article onto the conveyor. The controller can be furtherconfigured to detect at least one of a front side and a back side of thedeformable laundry article and instruct at least one of the one and theanother of the at least three lifters engaged with the deformablelaundry article to rotate the shared axis perpendicular to a rundirection of the conveyor such that the back side of the repositioneddeformable laundry article is configured to contact the conveyor.

In examples, the system further includes a robotic folding device inoperable communication with the controller, and wherein the conveyor,operating in a forward run direction, is configured to transfer therepositioned one of a plurality of deformable laundry articles to arobotic folding device. In examples, the system includes at least one ofa transfer conveyor configured to retrieve the repositioned one of theplurality of deformable laundry articles from the conveyor and transferthe one of the plurality of deformable laundry articles to a receivingsurface of robotic folding device.

In one example, a method of selecting a laundry article repositioningroutine includes receiving at a controller including a memory and aneural network, one or more camera images of a laundry article suspendedat a suspension height by at least one lifter within a work volume of arepositioning robot, wherein the repositioning robot includes a floordisposed at a bottom of the work volume and three or more liftersdisposed about the floor at fixed positions not traced along a singlestraight line. The method includes processing the received one or morecamera images with a neural network trained classifier, receiving adescriptor output from the trained classifier, the descriptor beingindicative of a next action by the repositioning robot and the nextaction being one of a plurality of trained classes, and instructing,based on the descriptor, one or more motor drives associated with pan,tilt, and extend motors of each of the lifters of the three or morelifters to execute the received next action.

In examples, the plurality of classes are manually tagged on trainingdata including a plurality of images of known classes of articles, theimages being ascertained by stationary sensors collocated with the threeor more lifters and including overlapping fields of view trained on thework volume.

In examples, the plurality of images of the training data are at leastone of a 2-D camera and a 3-D point cloud sensor images.

In examples, the next action includes at least one of continue executingan iterative repositioning sequence for a not flat article, sweeping therepositioned flat article onto the floor, executing a recovery sequencefor a missed grab, inverting a flat but inverted article, executing ashirt fold with sleeves gripped, executing a shirt fold with one sleeveand one front corner gripped, retrieving an article on the floor, andexecuting a shake. The iterative repositioning sequence iteratively caninclude an available gripper of the at least three lifters grasping andhoisting a low point of the laundry article to the suspension height ofone or more grippers of one or more engaged lifters of the three or morelifters, releasing the article from a longest engaged gripper of threeengaged grippers, and rotating a shared axis of a remaining two engagedgrippers.

In one example, an autonomous device for repositioning a deformablelaundry article for folding includes a conveyor disposed at a bottom ofa work volume, the conveyor being configured to transfer the deformablelaundry article beyond a perimeter of the work volume. The roboticdevice includes two or more lifters disposed about the perimeter of thework volume at individually anchored positions spaced apart by betweenabout 30 cm to 400 cm, each of the two or more lifters including agripper and at least one drive motor. The two or more lifters areconfigured to move within the work volume for releasably engaging thedeformable laundry article, and operate at least one of independently ofand in tandem with another of the two or more lifters to at least one ofraise and suspend the deformable laundry article above the conveyor. Therobotic device includes two or more sensors disposed at two or morefixed locations about the work volume. The two or more sensors arespaced apart by between about 30 cm to 400 cm. In some implementations,the two or more sensors are positioned apart from the two or morelifters. Additionally or alternatively, the two or more sensors are eachcollocated with one of the two or more lifters disposed about the workvolume. Each of the two or more sensors are configured to at least oneof detect one or more features and capture one or more images of thedeformable laundry article disposed within the work volume, and output asignal that includes (e.g., is indicative of) the at least one of thedetected one of one or more features and captured one or more images.The robotic device includes a memory storing data indicative of one ormore repositioned deformable laundry articles and a controller inoperative communication with the memory, the two or more sensors, andthe at least one drive motor and gripper of each of the two or morelifters. The controller is configured to receive the output signal fromone or more of the two or more sensors. The controller is configured toidentify, based on the output signal, one or more grip points adjacentone or more free-hanging edges of the deformable laundry articlesuspended above the conveyor by one of the two or more lifters, thegripper associated with the one of the two or more lifters being engagedwith the deformable laundry article and positioned at a suspensionheight. The controller is configured to instruct another of the two ormore lifters to grip, with an associated gripper, one of the one or moregrip points on the deformable laundry article and lift the gripped oneof the one or more grip points to the suspension height. The controlleris configured to determine whether the deformable laundry articlesuspended by the one and the another of the two or more lifters isrepositioned based on a comparison of the output signal to the dataindicative of one or more repositioned deformable laundry articles. Thecontroller is configured to instruct the one and the another of the twoor more lifters to lower the repositioned deformable laundry articleonto the conveyor, and release the repositioned deformable laundryarticle disposed on the conveyor.

Implementations of the device may include one or more of the followingfeatures.

In examples, the deformable laundry article is one of a plurality ofdeformable laundry articles including two or more article types of atleast one of different sizes and different shapes. Each of the two ormore article types can include a longest dimension of between about 4 cmto 500 cm. In examples, the data indicative of one or more repositioneddeformable laundry articles includes data associated with each of thetwo or more article types.

In examples, the work volume includes between about 3 cubic meters to 25cubic meters.

In examples, the one or more grip points are within a range of betweenabout 6 mm to 130 mm of the one or more free-hanging edges.

In examples, the controller is configured to instruct the one and theanother of the two or more lifters to lower the article onto theconveyor at least one of at a rate of movement of the conveyor and alonga non vertical slope.

In examples, the two or more sensors include at least one of a 3-D pointcloud sensor, a 2-D camera, LIDAR, LADAR, a sonar proximity sensor, anultrasonic ranging sensor, a radar sensor (e.g., including Doppler radarand/or millimeter-wave radar), and a pair of stereo depth cameras.

In examples, the two or more sensors are configured to output a 3-Dimage to the controller and the controller is further configured todetermine a pose of the deformable laundry article based on the 3-Dimage.

In examples, the two or more sensors are configured to output a 2-Dimage to the controller.

In examples, the two or more sensors are configured to provide two ormore 2-D images to the controller and the controller is furtherconfigured to determine a pose of the deformable laundry article.

In examples, the two or more sensors each includes a field of viewincluding a vertical angle ranging between about 35 and 90 degrees and ahorizontal angle ranging between about 50 and 90 degrees. The field ofview of each of the two or more sensors extends at least to a center ofthe work volume. The two or more sensors can include overlapping fieldsof view.

In examples, the controller is further configured to determine, based onthe output signal of each of the two or more sensors, a pose of thedeformable laundry article suspended within the work volume relative toat least the two or more fixed locations of the two or more sensors. Thecontroller can be configured to determine, based on the output signal ofeach of the two or more sensors, a longest dimension of the repositioneddeformable laundry article. In implementations, the device can furtherinclude a rotatable support for the conveyor, the rotatable supportbeing in operative communication with the controller and configured toalign a run direction of the conveyor parallel to the longest dimensionof the repositioned deformable laundry article. In implementations, thecontroller is further configured to instruct the one and the another ofthe two or more lifters to align the longest dimension of therepositioned deformable laundry article parallel to a run direction ofthe conveyor.

In examples, the controller is further configured to determine anorientation of a shared axis extending between the engaged grippers ofthe one and the another of the two or more lifters relative to a rundirection of the conveyor. The controller is further configured toinstruct at least one of the one and the another of the two or morelifters engaged with the deformable laundry article to rotate the sharedaxis perpendicular to a run direction of the conveyor prior toinstructing the one and the another of the two or more lifters to lowerthe repositioned deformable laundry article onto the conveyor. Thecontroller can be further configured to determine, based on a comparisonof the received output signal to the data, a back side of therepositioned deformable laundry article. In examples, the controller isfurther configured to instruct at least one of the one and the anotherof the two or more lifters engaged with the deformable laundry articleto rotate the shared axis perpendicular to a run direction of theconveyor prior to instructing the one and the another of the two or morelifters to lower the repositioned deformable laundry article onto theconveyor such that the back side of the repositioned deformable laundryarticle is configured to contact the conveyor.

In examples, the conveyor includes a run direction. The run directioncan be reversible.

In examples, the conveyor is configured to transfer the repositioned oneof the plurality of deformable laundry articles to a robotic foldingtable in series with the robotic device.

In examples of the robotic device, at least one of the two or moresensors is a 2-D camera and the data associated with the repositioneddeformable laundry article is size invariant image data.

In examples of the robotic device, at least one of the two or moresensors is a 3-D point cloud sensor and the memory further includes aneural network.

In examples, the comparison of the output signal to the data indicativeof one or more repositioned deformable laundry articles includes ananalysis based on a neural network. The analysis determines whether thecomparison meets or exceeds a threshold confidence value indicative ofan unfolded state. The controller is further configured to adjust thethreshold confidence value after at least one of a period of time and anumber of grips by grippers associated with the two or more lifters fordetermining a match between the repositioned deformable laundry articleand the data. In examples, the period of time is between about 5 secondsand 2 minutes. In examples, the number of grips ranges between about 2and 20.

In examples of the robotic device, the one or more features areindicative of at least one of position and orientation of the articlerelative to the two or more sensors. In examples, the one or morefeatures are indicative of a topology of the deformable article and thecontroller is further configured to analyze the input signal todetermine whether the topology matches at least one datum associatedwith the one or more repositioned deformable laundry articles.

In examples, at least one of the two or more lifters further includes anextendable arm extending from an anchored base at one of theindividually anchored positions, the extendable arm including a fullyextended length of between about 0.25 m and 4 m. The extendable arm caninclude between one and three degrees of freedom and at least oneflexible joint. In examples, the extendable arm terminates at anassociated gripper including at least two actuatable fingers. The atleast two actuatable fingers can include an overmold including adurometer of between about 40 A to 90 A. In examples, each of the atleast two of the two or more lifters include an extendable arm, and theat least two extendable arms include overlapping ranges of motion. Inexamples of the robotic device, the suspension height is predetermined.

In examples, the robotic device further includes one or more weightsensors disposed on at least one of the two or more lifters and theconveyor, the weight sensor being in operative communication with thecontroller and being configured to continuously detect a rate of changeas the deformable laundry article is raised by at least one of the twoor more lifters. The controller is configured to determine thedeformable laundry article is raised to a suspension height when the oneor more weight sensors detect an unchanging measured weight. Forexample, the one or more weight sensors detect a measured weight notvarying withing a measurement tolerance of the one or more weightsensors.

In examples, the controller is further configured to analyze thereceived output signal to determine that a lowest edge of the deformablelaundry article is suspended above the conveyor.

In examples, the at least one of the two or more lifters includes a liftshared with a robot configured to introduce the deformable laundryarticle to the work volume. In examples, the two or more liftersincludes at least three lifts.

In examples, the conveyor is configured to receive thereon thedeformable laundry articles in an initial configuration forrepositioning by the two or more lifters. In examples, the two or morelifters includes at least three lifts.

In examples, the controller is further configured to instruct the oneand the another of the two or more lifters having associated engagedgrippers to sweep the repositioned one of the plurality of deformablelaundry articles onto a surface outside the work volume.

In one example, a method of robotically repositioning a laundry articlefor folding includes receiving, at a controller, one or more outputsignals from two or more sensors configured to at least one of detectone of one or more features and capture one or more images of thelaundry article. The method includes determining, based on the receivedone or more output signals, whether the deformable laundry article issuspended above a conveyor from a suspension height by a first gripperof three or more movable grippers in operative communication with thecontroller, the three or more moveable grippers being anchored aside theconveyor. The method includes detecting, based on the received one ormore output signals, a grip point disposed on the deformable laundryarticle below the suspension height. The method includes instructing asecond one of the three or more movable grippers to engage the grippoint of the suspended laundry articles and lift the grip point to thesuspension height. The method includes comparing the output signal todata stored in a memory in communication with the controller, the databeing indicative of one or more repositioned laundry articles. Themethod includes determining, based on the comparison, whether thelaundry article engaged with the first and second grippers matches thedata indicative of the one or more repositioned laundry articles. Themethod includes instructing the first and second grippers of the threeor more lifts to sweep the laundry article onto the conveyor upondetermining a match between the laundry article and the data and releasethe laundry article.

Implementations of the method may include one or more of the followingfeatures.

In examples, the method includes, upon determining no match between thelaundry article and the data, detecting, based on the received one ormore output signals, a grip point disposed on the deformable laundryarticle below the suspension height, instructing a third gripper of thethree or more moveable grippers to engage the grip point, determiningthe third gripper is engaged with the grip point, instructing the thirdgripper to lift the grip point to the suspension height, and instructingthe engaged first gripper to release the laundry article.

In examples, the method includes iteratively performing the steps ofdetecting, based on the received one or more output signals, a grippoint disposed on the deformable laundry article below the suspensionheight, instructing the third gripper of the three or more moveablegrippers to engage the grip point, determining the third gripper isengaged with the grip point, instructing the third gripper to lift thegrip point to the suspension height, and instructing the longest engagedgripper to release the laundry article, until at least one of a time outcondition is reached. In implementations, the timeout condition includesat least one of determining a match of the output signal to the dataindicative of one or more repositioned laundry articles, exceeding athreshold number of iterations without determining a match, andexceeding a threshold time limit without determining a match. Forexample, the data indicative of one or more repositioned laundryarticles includes data indicative of the laundry article beingsufficiently flat for successful folding. Being “sufficiently flat” caninclude an article including one or more wrinkles, folded over edges, orinverted portions.

In examples, the controller is configured to select one of the three ormore grippers closest to the grip point prior to instructing the secondof the three or more grippers to engage the grip point.

In examples, the controller is in operative communication with theconveyor and further configured to signal the conveyor to transfer therepositioned laundry articles swept to a robotic folding tableconfigured to be aligned with the conveyor.

In examples, the controller is further configured to instruct an engagedone of the three or more grippers to at least one of rotate andtranslate the laundry article for alignment of the grip point withanother of the three or more grippers. In examples, the controller isconfigured to instruct an engaged one of the three or more grippers torotate around a z-axis perpendicular to the conveyor such that a lowpoint of the article is disposed within reach of the another gripper. Inexamples, the controller is configured to instruct an engaged one of thethree or more grippers to translate parallel to one of an x-axis and ay-axis of the conveyor such that a low point of the article is disposedwithin reach of the another one of the three or more grippers. Inexamples, the engaged one of the three or more grippers at least one ofrotates about the z-axis and translates parallel to one of the x-axisand the y-axis after one other of the three or more grippers is engagedand raised to the suspension height, such that a low point of thearticle is disposed within reach of a third of the three or moregrippers. In examples, the controller is configured to instruct a sharedaxis of an engaged two or more of the three or more grippers to rotatearound a z-axis perpendicular to the conveyor such that a low point ofthe article is disposed within reach of an available, unengaged gripper.

In examples, the two or more sensors further include one or more forcesensors disposed on the three or more grippers. The one or more forcesensors are configured to detect a presence of the deformable laundryarticle gripped between two or more fingers of one of the three or moregrippers and output a signal indicative of the presence. Determiningthat the deformable laundry article is suspended above the conveyorincludes receiving at the controller an output signal indicative of apresence of the deformable laundry article gripped by one of the threeor more grippers.

In examples the engaged first and second grippers are separated by nomore than a distance between the detected grip point and the suspensionheight at any time while lifting the laundry article by the grip point.

In examples, sweeping the laundry article onto the conveyor includesinstructing the first and second grippers to lower the laundry articleonto the conveyor at least one of at a rate less than or equal to a rateof movement of the conveyor and along a non vertical slope. Lowering thearticle at a rate less than the rate of movement of the conveyor enablesthe conveyor to assist with further spreading or stretching the articleto a repositioned state for folding. For example, sweeping an articleback along a non-vertical slope at a rate slower than the conveyor isrotating can assist with the conveyor pulling any wrinkles straight asthe article is disposed on the conveyor.

In examples, the method further includes, based on the output signal,determining a pose of the laundry article suspended above the conveyorrelative to at least two or more fixed locations associated with the twoor more sensors.

In examples, the method further includes determining, based on theoutput signal of each of the two or more sensors, a longest dimension ofthe laundry article. In examples, sweeping the laundry article onto theconveyor includes rotating a rotatable support of the conveyor to aligna run direction of the conveyor parallel to the longest dimension of thelaundry article. In examples, sweeping the laundry article onto theconveyor includes instructing the first and second grippers to align thelongest dimension of the laundry article parallel to a run direction ofthe conveyor.

In examples, the method further includes determining an orientation of ashared axis extending between the first and second grippers engaged withthe repositioned laundry article relative to a run direction of theconveyor. The method can include instructing at least one of the one andthe another of the two or more grippers engaged with the laundry articleto rotate the shared axis perpendicular to a run direction of theconveyor prior to instructing the first and second grippers to sweep therepositioned laundry article onto the conveyor. In implementations, themethod further includes comparing the received output signal to the datato identify a back side of the repositioned laundry article. Inimplementations, the controller can be further configured to instruct atleast one of the first and second gripper engaged with the deformablelaundry article to rotate the shared axis perpendicular to a rundirection of the conveyor prior to instructing the first and secondgrippers to sweep the repositioned laundry article onto the conveyorsuch that the back side of the repositioned laundry article isconfigured to contact the conveyor.

In examples, the conveyor includes a run direction. In implementations,the run direction is reversible.

In one example, a robotic device for repositioning a deformable laundryarticle for folding, includes a moveable platform disposed at a bottomof a work volume, the platform being configured to transfer thedeformable laundry article beyond a perimeter of the work volume. Thedevice includes three or more retractable arms disposed about theperimeter of the work volume at individually anchored positions, each ofthe three or more retractable including a rotating base joint, agripper, and at least one drive motor. The three or more retractablearms are configured to move within the work volume for releasablyengaging the deformable laundry article, and operate at least one ofindependently of and in tandem with another of the three or moreretractable arms to at least one of raise and suspend the deformablelaundry article above the moveable platform. The device includes atleast one sensor disposed at a fixed location about the work volume. Theat least one sensor is configured to at least one of detect one or morefeatures and capture one or more images of the deformable laundryarticle disposed within the work volume, and output a signal includingthe at least one of the detected one of one or more features andcaptured one or more images. The device includes a memory storing dataindicative of one or more repositioned deformable laundry articles, thedata including at least one of an associated trained data set for aplurality of repositioned deformable laundry articles, a timeoutassociated with one or more repositioned deformable laundry articles,and a threshold number of grips and lifts associated with one or morerepositioned deformable laundry articles. The device includes acontroller in operative communication with the memory, at least onesensor, and the at least one drive motor and the associated gripper ofeach of the three or more retractable arms. The controller is configuredto receive the output signal from the at least one sensor. Thecontroller is configured to identify, based on the output signal, one ormore grip points adjacent one or more free-hanging edges of thedeformable laundry article suspended above the moveable platform by oneof three or more retractable arms, the gripper associated with the oneof the three or more retractable arms being engaged with the deformablelaundry article and positioned at a suspension height. The controller isconfigured to instruct another of the three or more retractable arms togrip, with an associated gripper, one of the one or more grip points onthe deformable laundry article and lift the gripped one of the one ormore grip points to the suspension height. The controller is configuredto determine whether the deformable laundry article suspended by the oneand the another of the three or more retractable arms is repositionedbased on at least one of matching the output signal to a datum of theassociated trained data set for a plurality of repositioned deformablelaundry articles, reaching a timeout associated with one or morerepositioned deformable laundry articles, and reaching the thresholdnumber of grips and lifts associated with one or more repositioneddeformable laundry articles. The controller is configured to instructthe one and the another of the three or more retractable arms to lowerthe repositioned deformable laundry article onto the moveable platform,and release the repositioned deformable laundry article disposed on themovable platform.

Implementations of the device may include one or more of the followingfeatures.

In examples, the three or more lifters arms are anchored apart at adistance between about 30 cm to 400 cm.

In examples, the at least one sensor includes two or more sensors spacedapart by between about 30 cm to 400 cm.

In examples, the movable platform includes a conveyor.

In examples, the moveable platform is configured to tilt such that arepositioned deformable article disposed thereon slides off undergravity.

In examples, the moveable platform includes a wheeled platformconfigured to roll outside the work volume.

In examples, the moveable platform includes an extendable surface fordelivering the repositioned deformable laundry article outside the workvolume.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 depicts a schematic of an example autonomous robotic laundryprocess line.

FIG. 2 depicts a schematic of an example autonomous robotic laundryprocess line including one intake and output and a plurality of washingand drying robots.

FIG. 3 depicts a schematic of a plurality of autonomous robotic laundryprocess lines including a plurality of intakes and outputs and aplurality of washing and drying robots.

FIG. 4 depicts a schematic example of a system for controlling anautonomous robotic laundry process line.

FIG. 5 depicts a system level schematic of an example repositioningrobot.

FIG. 6A depicts an isometric view of an example repositioning robot ofan autonomous robotic laundry process line.

FIG. 6B depicts a plan view of an example autonomous repositioning robotof a robotic laundry process line.

FIG. 7A depicts an example of a lifter of an autonomous repositioningrobot of FIGS. 6A-B.

FIG. 7B depicts a portion of a base of the lifter of FIG. 7A withpartial transparency.

FIG. 7C depicts a view of a portion of a base of the lifter of FIG. 7Awith partial transparency.

FIGS. 7D-E depicts an example of a pan joint of a lifter of FIG. 7A in afirst position and a second, rotated position.

FIG. 7F depicts an example end view of an arm of a lifter disposed onv-groove bearings.

FIG. 8A depicts a schematic example transit volume of one lifter of anautonomous repositioning robot.

FIG. 8B depicts a schematic example transit volume of one lifter of anautonomous repositioning robot.

FIG. 8C depicts a schematic example of overlapping transit volumes oftwo lifters of an autonomous repositioning robot.

FIG. 9A depicts an example gripper of an autonomous repositioning robotincluding a driven linkage.

FIG. 9B depicts an example pulley driven gripper of an autonomousrepositioning robot.

FIG. 9C depicts an example schematic of a gripping region of a closedgripper of an autonomous repositioning robot.

FIG. 9D depicts a perspective view an example gripping region of an opengripper of an autonomous repositioning robot.

FIG. 9E depicts a perspective view of an example pulley driven gripperof an autonomous repositioning robot.

FIG. 9F depicts an example gripper drive on the back end of a lifter armof an autonomous repositioning robot.

FIG. 9G depicts an example gloved gripper in an open position.

FIG. 9H depicts an example gloved gripper in a closed position.

FIG. 10 depicts an end perspective schematic of an example of an arm andgripper of a lifter of an autonomous repositioning robot.

FIG. 11 depicts a side view of the example arm and gripper of FIG. 10 .

FIG. 12 depicts a side view of the example arm and gripper of FIG. 10rotated out of the page 90 degrees.

FIG. 13 depicts a cross sectioned side view of the example arm andgripper of FIG. 10 .

FIG. 14 depicts a schematic view of an example end portion of the arm ofFIG. 10 .

FIG. 15A depicts a schematic view of an example wrist portion of the armof FIG. 10 .

FIG. 15B depicts a close up, partially exploded view of air fittings ofthe wrist portion of FIG. 15A.

FIG. 16A depicts a cross section schematic view of an example wristportion of the arm of FIG. 10 .

FIG. 16B is an example schematic of a hinged gripper of FIG. 10 in afully flexed state.

FIG. 16C depicts a cross section view of an example schematic of ahinged gripper of FIG. 10 in an open gripper state with the hinge coverplate removed.

FIG. 16D depicts the hinged gripper of FIG. 16C in a closed gripperstate.

FIG. 17A depicts a side cut away view of an example compression wrist ofa lifter of an autonomous repositioning robot.

FIG. 17B depicts a back perspective cut away view of the wrist of FIG.17A.

FIG. 17C depicts a side perspective cut away view and close up of aportion of the wrist of FIGS. 17A-B.

FIG. 18A depicts a schematic of an example of an autonomousrepositioning robot initiating a repositioning process for a laundryarticle within a working volume.

FIG. 18B depicts a schematic of an example of an autonomousrepositioning robot repositioning a laundry article within a workingvolume.

FIG. 19A depicts an isometric view of an example sensor field of viewrelative to the work volume of an autonomous repositioning robot.

FIG. 19B depicts a side view of the example sensor field of views ofFIG. 19A relative to the work volume of the autonomous repositioningrobot.

FIG. 20A depicts a schematic example of an autonomous repositioningrobot lowering a repositioned laundry article onto a surface.

FIG. 20B depicts a schematic example of an autonomous repositioningrobot sweeping a repositioned laundry article onto a surface.

FIG. 21A depicts an end view of an example autonomous repositioningrobot comprising a rotating conveyor.

FIG. 21B depicts a side view of the example repositioning robot of FIG.21A.

FIG. 22 depicts a perspective schematic perspective view of an exampleof a transit conveyor disposed between a repositioning robot and afolding device.

FIG. 23 depicts a top down view schematic example of a transit conveyorfor delivering a repositioned article to a folding device.

FIG. 24A depicts a rear perspective view of an example transit conveyor.

FIG. 24B depicts an underside view of the transit conveyor of FIG. 24A.

FIG. 25 depicts a side view of a transit conveyor approaching thefolding device with a repositioned article.

FIG. 26 depicts a side view of the transit conveyor delivering therepositioned article to the folding device of FIG. 25 .

FIG. 27 depicts a schematic of abutted portions of an examplerepositioning robot floor conveyor and transit conveyor of an autonomousrobotic laundry process line.

FIG. 28 depicts a schematic of an example method of repositioning alaundry article with a repositioning robot of an autonomous roboticlaundry process line.

FIG. 29 depicts a schematic diagram of an example neural network for usewith an autonomous robotic laundry system.

FIG. 30 is a state diagram showing an example of a state machine for arepositioning robot.

FIG. 31A depicts a front view of an open front shirt suspended from thesleeves by two lifters of the repositioning robot.

FIG. 31B depicts a front view of an open front shirt suspended sidewaysfrom one sleeve and one corner by two lifters of the repositioningrobot.

FIG. 32A depicts a rear view of an open front shirt suspended sidewaysfrom one sleeve and one corner by two lifters of the repositioningrobot.

FIG. 32B depicts the open front shirt of FIG. 32A suspended by fourlifters of the repositioning robot.

FIG. 33 depicts a rear view of an open front shirt suspended upside downby four lifters of the repositioning robot.

FIG. 34 depicts a front view of the open front shirt of FIG. 33suspended and partially folded by four lifters of the repositioningrobot.

FIG. 35 depicts top down schematic views of an example sequence ofgripping, lifting, and translating an article of laundry suspendedwithin a work area of the repositioning robot for repositioning.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

This disclosure relates to autonomous robotic devices, systems, andmethods for handling residential loads of laundry without relying onhuman labor. Laundry articles are collected from households anddelivered to one or more process lines for cleaning, packing, andreturning to households. The autonomous processes are time and costefficient, eliminate human intervention-based delays, eliminate lineworkers and associated potential introduction of human contaminantsintroduced by line workers, and eliminate any concerns with havingprivate personal items handled by strangers.

The system includes one or more autonomous process lines comprising aplurality of robotic devices configured to work in concert to process adirty load of household laundry from a mass of dirty, non-uniformarticles to individually separated, cleaned, and folded laundryarticles. The plurality of robotic devices operate without humanintervention to efficiently and effectively launder a customer's dirtyitems. This disclosure relates to autonomous robotic devices configuredto reposition clean, deformable laundry articles for introduction to afolding robot. The laundry articles are collected from a household anddelivered to the process line for cleaning. This disclosure also relatesto implementations of autonomous processing of clean, deformable laundryarticles and introduction of the clean laundry articles to a roboticrepositioning device.

As shown in FIG. 1 , in implementations of the system, a process line100 a comprises a plurality of autonomous robots configured to operatein series without human intervention to process and transport dirtylaundry through the cleaning process and then fold and repackage theclean laundry for return to a household. In one implementation, theprocess line 100 a comprises an autonomously operating intake robot 2000for receiving a load of dirty household laundry comprising a pluralityof deformable laundry articles. The deformable laundry articles can benon-uniform in type, size, shape, color, and fabric. For example, theplurality of deformable laundry articles can include items commonlylaundered in homes, such as sheets, towels, table cloths, and adult andchildren's garments, for example, tee shirts, pants, socks,undergarments, dresses, dress shirts, and blouses. The autonomous intakerobot 2000 is configured to introduce the plurality of deformablelaundry articles belonging to a single customer (e.g., household) to adirty laundry separating and sorting robot 3000 configured to separateout each one of the deformable laundry articles of the plurality ofdeformable laundry articles. In implementations, the separating andsorting robot 3000 is configured to sort each one of the separateddeformable laundry articles into one or more related batches forwashing. In implementations, the separating and sorting robot 3000 isconfigured to intelligently batch the separated each one of thedeformable laundry articles according to a programmed sorting algorithmbased, for example, on criteria including at least one of materialcolor, material type, article size, customer washing preference, watertemperature requirements, and load size (e.g., weight and/or physicalvolume). In implementations, the separating and sorting robot 3000 isconfigured to identify and record the number and types of garments inthe load of laundry and provide this information to one or more robotsof the process line 100 a.

The separating and sorting robot 3000 outputs one or more intelligentlysorted batches of deformable laundry articles to one or more washing anddrying robots 4000 for laundering. The one or more washing and dryingrobots 4000 output the clean laundry articles to a clean laundryseparating robot 5000. Implementations of the clean laundry separatingrobot 5000 can be similar or identical to the separating and sortingrobot 3000. The clean laundry separating robot 5000 is configured toseparate a load of clean laundry into individual deformable laundryarticles for introduction into a repositioning robot 6000. Inimplementations to be described herein in detail, the repositioningrobot 6000 receives a single deformable laundry article and manipulatesand repositions it for automated introduction into a folding robot 7000,which automatically folds the laundry article for introduction to apacking robot 8000. In implementations, the packing robot 8000automatically and autonomously packs the clean load of laundrycomprising the plurality of clean and folded deformable laundry articlesinto a shipping container for automated redistribution to the customer.In implementations, the shipping container is a reusable container. Inimplementations, the shipping container is a disposable container. Inimplementations, the shipping container is a non-deformable containerwith an ingress protection rating that includes an intrusion protectionrating of 5 or 6 and a moisture protection rating of any and all of 1through 6 in accordance with the Ingress Protection Code, IEC standard60529. In reusable implementations, the shipping container can bewashable.

Implementations of the process line 100 a of household laundry cleaningrobots can comprise one or more of each of the robots depicted in FIG. 1. For example, as shown in FIG. 2 , each autonomous process line 100 bcan include a bank 4002 of washing and drying robots 4000 a-n. In otherimplementations, as shown in FIG. 3 , the autonomous process line 100 cincludes a bank 4002 of washing and drying robots 4000 a-n shared by twoor more sets of automated intake robots 2000 a-b and dirty laundryseparating and sorting robots 3000 a-b and two or more sets of cleanlaundry separating robots 5000 a-b, repositioning robots 6000 a-b,folding robots 7000 a-b, and packing robots 8000 a-b. Additionally, twoor more of the robots can be combined in a single module in alternateimplementations. In implementations, one or more of the robots in theprocess line 100 a-c (collectively referred hereinafter as process line100) are configured to communicate over wired connections or wirelesscommunication protocols. For example, in implementations, one or morerobots in the process line 100 can communicate with another one or morerobots in the process line 100 over a wired BUS, LAN, WLAN, 4G, 5G, LTE,Ethernet, BLUETOOTH, or other IEEE 801.11 standard.

Referring to FIG. 4 , an example of a system 200 of operativelyconnected autonomous robots is shown. FIG. 4 depicts a schematicimplementation of a portion of an autonomous robotic process line 100that processes the clean deformable laundry articles. A repositioningrobot 6000 is in operative communication with a clean laundry separatingrobot 5000 configured to provide single deformable laundry articles tothe repositioning robot 6000 and output a repositioned deformablelaundry article to an autonomously operating folding robot 7000. Eachrobot 5000, 6000, 7000 includes a controller 5005, 6005, 7005 configuredto operate the associated robot.

For example, in implementations, the autonomous repositioning robot 6000includes a controller 6005. The controller 6005 includes a processor6015 in communication with a memory 6010, a network interface 6020, anda sensor interface 6025. The processor 6015 can be a singlemicroprocessor, multiple microprocessors, a many-core processor, amicrocontroller, and/or any other general purpose computing system thatcan be configured by software and/or firmware. In implementations, thememory 6010 contains any of a variety of software applications, datastructures, files and/or databases for executing algorithms andproviding stored requirements associated with repositioning a pluralityof non-uniform deformable laundry articles. In one implementation, thecontroller 6005 includes dedicated hardware, such as single-boardcomputers, application specific integrated circuits (ASIC s), and fieldprogrammable gate arrays (FPGAs).

A network interface 6020 is configured to couple the controller 6005 toa network 230. The network 230 may include both private networks, suchas local area networks, and public networks, such as the Internet. Itshould be noted that, in some examples, the network 230 may include oneor more intermediate devices involved in the routing of packets from oneendpoint to another. In implementations, the network interface 6020 iscoupled to the network 230 via a networking device, such as a bridge,router, or hub. In other implementations, the network 230 may involveonly two endpoints that each have a network connection directly with theother. In implementations, the network interface 6020 supports a varietyof standards and protocols, examples of which include USB (via, forexample, a dongle to a computer), TCP/IP, Ethernet, Wireless Ethernet,BLUETOOTH, ZigBee, M-Bus, CAN-bus, IP, IPV6, UDP, DTN, HTTP, FTP, SNMP,CDMA, NMEA and GSM. To ensure data transfer is secure, in some examples,the controller 6005 can transmit data via the network interface 6020using a variety of security measures including, for example, TLS, SSL orVPN. In implementations, the network interface 6020 includes both aphysical interface configured for wireless communication and a physicalinterface configured for wired communication. According to variousembodiments, the network interface 6020 enables communication betweenthe controller 6005 of the repositioning robot and at least one of theplurality of robots 2000, 3000, 4000, 5000, 7000, 8000, 9000 of theprocess line 100.

Additionally or alternatively, the network interface 6020 is configuredto facilitate the communication of information between the processor6020 and one or more other devices or entities over the network 230. Forexample, in implementations, the network interface 6020 is configured tocommunicate with a remote computing device such as a computing terminal205, database 235, server 240, smartphone 245, and server farm 250. Inimplementations, the network interface 6020 can include communicationscircuitry for at least one of receiving data from a database 235 andtransmitting data to a remote server 240, 250. In some implementations,the network interface 6020 can communicate with a remote server over anyof the wired protocols previously described, including a WI-FIcommunications link based on the IEEE 802.11 standard.

In some examples in accordance with FIG. 4 , the network 230 may includeone or more communication networks through which the various autonomousrobots and computing devices illustrated in FIG. 2 may send, receive,and/or exchange data. In various implementations, the network 230 mayinclude a cellular communication network and/or a computer network. Insome examples, the network 230 includes and supports wireless networkand/or wired connections. For instance, in these examples, the network230 may support one or more networking standards such as GSM, CMDA, USB,BLUETOOTH®, CAN, ZigBee®, Wireless Ethernet, Ethernet, and TCP/IP, amongothers. In implementations, the network 230 can implement broadbandcellular technology (e.g., 2.5 G, 2.75 G, 3 G, 4 G, 5 G cellularstandards) and/or Long-Term Evolution (LTE) technology or GSM/EDGE andUMTS/HSPA technologies for high-speed wireless communication.

Although the controller 6005 is described herein in particular, one ormore of the plurality of robots 2000, 3000, 4000, 5000, 7000, 8000, 9000of the process line 100 includes similar components having similarfunctionality.

In implementations, the repositioning robot 6000 can be a repositioningsystem comprising one or more autonomous devices working in concert toreposition one or more deformable laundry articles for automatedfolding. The repositioning of the one or more deformable laundryarticles for automated folding can include manipulating the article soas to flatten or straighten a shape of the deformable laundry article,such as reducing a number of bends in the deformable laundry article. Itshould be understood, however, that after repositioning, the deformablelaundry article does not need to be perfectly flat or without bends, andthat some threshold amount of bending may be tolerated by the foldingrobot 7000. The folding robot 7000 is configured to fold therepositioned deformable laundry article into a shape that is generallyflat or elongated having planar fabric portions and folds, which areoptionally symmetric in shape. FIG. 5 depicts a schematic of animplementation of concurrently monitored and/or controlled components ofthe repositioning robot 6000 in operable control with the one or morecontrollers 6005 of the system 6000. The repositioning system 6000includes one or more of the features described with regard to theembodiments of FIGS. 1-4 .

In implementations the repositioning robot 6000 comprises a workspacefloor 6030 (alternatively referred to herein throughout with regard toimplementations as “conveyor 6030”), a transfer conveyor 6070 forreceiving a repositioned article and delivering the repositioned articleto the folding robot 7000, and two or more lifters 6100 a-d in operablecommunication with the one or more controllers 6005 for repositioning adeformable laundry article in preparation for folding by the foldingrobot 7000. As will be described subsequently with regard toimplementations, the workspace floor 6030 is a conveyor comprising arotating belt conveyor that can extend beyond the bottom of the workvolume 6035 and move articles in a direction R toward the transferconveyor 6070. The conveyor 6030 comprises a conveyor drive 6210configured to rotate the belt conveyor. The drive 6210 can be inoperable communication via the processor 6205 with a motor, such as forexample, controllable motor (e.g., a brushless DC motor (BLDC)), and aspeed encoder 6235 for timing the belt of the rotating conveyor 6030 tothe same rotational speed as a belt of a proximate transfer conveyor6070. As will be described subsequently with regard to implementations,timing the speeds of the two proximate belts effectively creates acontinuous combined moving surface for transferring a repositionedarticle form the repositioning robot to the transfer conveyor 6070without disruption. In implementations, the at least one controller 6005is in operable communication with the conveyor drive 6210 and a drive6076 of the transfer conveyor 6070 via a wired or wireless communicationnetwork (e.g., network 230). In implementations, the at least onecontroller comprises at least one of a centralized controller 8005configured to communicate with one or more components of therepositioning robot 6000 and a processor 6205, 6075, 6305 a-d, of one ormore of the components of the system 6000.

Additionally or alternatively, the workspace floor 6030 comprises atleast one of a position sensor 6225 and an optical sensor 6230 fortracking movement of the rotating belt and/or a position of a deformablearticle on or above the workspace floor, and the at least one sensor6225, 6230 can be in communication with at least one of the controller6005 and the workspace floor processor 6205 via the sensor interface6220.

As shown in FIG. 5 , the repositioning robot 6005 comprises two or morelifters 6100 a-d in operable communication with at least one of theirrespective processors 6305 a-d and the at least one controller 6005 ofthe system 6000. In implementations, each one of the two or more lifters6100 a-d c comprises a pan drive 6310, tilt drive 6315, and extend drive6320 configured to drive motors configured to pan, tilt, and extend anarm of the lifter 6100 as will be described subsequently with regard toimplementations. In implementations, the pan, tilt, and extend armmotors comprise controllable motors (e.g., a brushless DC motor (BLDC)),Each lifter 6100 a-d comprises a network interface configured tocommunicate data and sensor signals to at least one of the respectiveprocessors 6305 a-d and the at least one controller 6005 of the system6000 (via a wireless or wired communication network 230) for processing.The sensor signals can be output from one or more optical sensors 6128a-d, one or more encoders 6335 a-d, and one or more position sensors6340 d and routed via the sensor interface 6330 a-d.

Additionally, each lifter comprises a gripper drive 6350 and a gripperactuator 6345 in communication with at least one of the respectiveprocessors 6305 a-d and the at least one controller 6005 of the system6000 (via a wireless or wired communication network 230). Inimplementations comprising a wrist, each lifter 6100 a-d comprises awrist drive 6355 in operable communication with the controller forrotating and/or tilting a wrist of a gripper. Additionally oralternatively, in implementations, each lifter comprises one or moregripper sensors 6360 such as an absolute position sensor configured todetect an absolute position of a rotating swivel joint and tilting hingejoint (e.g., an absolute encoder such as a potentiometer, opticalencoder, or Hall sensor for detecting an angular position of a gripperwrist that tilts relative to the longitudinal arm axis) and fingertippressure sensors disposed in the fingers of the gripper for detectingcontact forces with an article of clothing and/or the workspace floor6030.

Each component of the repositioning robot 6000 will subsequently bedescribed with regard to implementations.

Turning now to FIGS. 6A-B, an implementation of a repositioning robot6000 (also alternatively referred to hereinafter as “a robotic device”)configured to autonomously reposition a deformable laundry article forfolding is shown. The repositioning robot 6000 includes one or more ofthe features described with regard to the embodiments of FIGS. 1-5 . Inimplementations, a the workspace floor 6030 comprises a conveyor 6030disposed at a bottom of a work volume 6035 indicated by dashed lines inFIG. 6 . The work volume 6035 is the volume of space within which therepositioning robot 6000 repositions the deformable laundry articleabove the conveyor 6030. In implementations, the work volume 6035includes a diameter 6036 of between about 5 to 9 feet (e.g., 5 ft, 5.25ft, 5.5 ft, 5.75 ft, 6 ft, 6.25 ft, 6.5 ft, 6.75 ft, 7 ft, 7.25 ft, 7.5ft, 7.75 ft, 8 ft, 8.25 ft, 8.5 ft, 8.75, 9 ft) and a height of 5-9 feet(e.g., 5 ft, 5.25 ft, 5.5 ft, 5.75 ft, 6 ft, 6.25 ft, 6.5 ft, 6.75 ft, 7ft, 7.25 ft, 7.5 ft, 7.75 ft, 8 ft, 8.25 ft, 8.5 ft, 8.75, 9 ft). Inimplementations, the work volume 6035 includes a diameter 6036 ofbetween about 1 to 5 feet (e.g., 1 ft, 1.25 ft, 1.5 ft, 1.75 ft, 2 ft,2.25 ft, 2.5 ft, 2.75 ft, 3 ft, 3.25 ft, 3.5 ft, 3.75 ft, 4 ft, 4.25 ft,4.5 ft, 4.75, 5 ft) and a height of 5-9 feet (e.g., 5 ft, 5.25 ft, 5.5ft, 5.75 ft, 6 ft, 6.25 ft, 6.5 ft, 6.75 ft, 7 ft, 7.25 ft, 7.5 ft, 7.75ft, 8 ft, 8.25 ft, 8.5 ft, 8.75, 9 ft). In implementations, the workvolume 6035 includes a diameter 6036 of between about 0.3 m to 4 m and aheight between about 1.5 m to 3 m. In implementations, the work volume6035 includes a diameter 6036 of between about 1.5 m to 3 m and a heightbetween about 1.5 m to 3 m. In implementations, work volume 6035comprises between about 0.2 to 50 cubic meters of workspace within whichto reposition a deformable laundry article. In implementations, asmaller work volume (e.g., approximately 0.2 cubic meters) can beassociated with a small version of the robot 6000 for at least one ofrepositioning, folding, and matching smaller items, such as socks,underwear and baby clothes. In implementations, the work volumecomprises a range of between about 5 to 25 cubic meters of space withinwhich the repositioning robot 6000 is configured to reposition mostarticles of household laundry. In implementations, the work volumecomprises a range of between about 25 to 50 meters of cubic space forlonger and overall larger surface area items that require repositioningby a robot 3000 that is at least one of taller, longer, and wider thansmall-sized and average-sized implementations. The conveyor 6030 isconfigured to transfer the deformable laundry article beyond a perimeterof the work volume 6035 once the repositioning robot 6000 hasrepositioned the deformable laundry article in accordance with one ormore threshold qualifications for folding, which will be describedsubsequently with regard to implementations.

The repositioning robot 6000 comprises two or more lifters 6100 a-d. Inimplementations, at least one of the two or more lifters 6100 a-dcomprises a lifter shared with a robot configured to introduce thedeformable laundry article to the work volume in a suspendedconfiguration. In implementations, the conveyor 6030 can be configuredto receive thereon the deformable laundry article in an initialconfiguration for lifting and repositioning by the two or more lifters6100 a-d.

In implementations, the two or more lifters 6100 a-d are disposed aboutthe perimeter of the work volume 6035 at individually anchored positionsA-D spaced apart from each of the other anchored positions by betweenabout 30 cm to 400 cm. In one implementation, the two or more lifters6100 a-d are spaced apart by a distance of between about 1.5 m to 3 m or5 to 9 feet (e.g., 5 ft, 5.25 ft, 5.5 ft, 5.75 ft, 6 ft, 6.25 ft, 6.5ft, 6.75 ft, 7 ft, 7.25 ft, 7.5 ft, 7.75 ft, 8 ft, 8.25 ft, 8.5 ft,8.75, 9 ft). In implementations the two or more lifters 6100 a-dcomprise four lifters evenly spaced about the work volume 6035. Inimplementations, the two or more lifters 6100 a-d comprise four liftersunevenly spaced about the work volume 6035. In either of the precedingimplementations, the four lifters are not all along a single sharedline. In implementations, the two or more lifters 6100 a-d comprise fourlifters spaced about the work volume 6035 disposed proximate a perimeterof the floor conveyor 6030 and at corners defining a rectangle. Inimplementations, the two or more lifters comprise three or more liftersdisposed about the work volume 6030 proximate a perimeter of the floorconveyor 6030 and at the corners of defining a polygon or alongcircumferential points of a circular work area 6032 comprising the areaof the floor conveyor 6030 at the bottom of the work volume 6035 withinwhich an article is repositioned. In one implementation, each of the twoor more lifters 6100 a-d includes an associated arm 6110 a-d. Inimplementations, each associated arm 6110 has no joints. In someimplementations, one or more of the associated arms 6110 a-d comprisesone or more joints. In alternative implementations, one or more of thetwo or more lifters comprises a stationary vertical riser (not shown)along which a gripper translates up and down. In still yet otherimplementations, one or more of the two or more lifters comprises arotatable riser (not shown) along which a gripper translatesbidirectionally.

In the implementation of FIGS. 6A-B, the repositioning robot 6000includes four lifters 6100 a-d connected to bases 6102 a-d each anchoredastride the conveyor 6030 proximate an associated corner of the conveyor6030. In implementations, one or more of the bases 6102 a-d is anchoredto a floor 12 beneath the conveyor 6030 (as shown in FIGS. 21A-B). Inother implementations, one or more of the bases 6102 a-d is anchored toa ceiling or support frame located above the conveyor for providingaccess to the work volume 6030. Each of the two or more lifters 6100 a-dcomprises a gripper 6105 a-d, an arm 6110 a-d supporting the gripper6105 a-d, and at least one drive motor 6115 a-d, 6120 a-d, 6125 a-dschematically represented in FIGS. 3A-B. Each arm 6110 a-d can comprisebetween one and three degrees of freedom.

FIGS. 7A-7E show an exemplary lifter 6100 of the two or more lifters6100 a-d. In implementations, each lifter 6100 can include a pan motor6115 for rotating each lifter and its associated arm 6110 about avertical axis P centered on an associated base 6102, through arotational angular direction a and parallel to schematically representedvertical axis L_(Z). In implementations, each arm 6110 is disposed atanchored positions spaced apart by at least about a distance of 3 to 5inches from the conveyor 6030 so as to not interfere with the conveyor6030 while maintaining effective working volumes for successfullyrepositioning an article. Additionally or alternatively, inimplementation the arm 6110 intersects the base 6102 at a positiondisposed above the conveyor floor 6030 (e.g. at least 3 cm above theconveyor floor) to prevent any interference of the arm 6110 with theconveyor 6030 during a panning motion. In implementations, the pan motor6115 comprises an encoder for detecting a rotational position of thelifter 6100. In implementations, the pan motor 6115 is a controllableservo motor and comprises a speed encoder in operable communication withat least one of the processor 6205 and the controller 6005 cansynchronize motion and speed of the belt of the conveyor. FIGS. 7D-Eshow an implementation of a portion of a lifter in a first rotationalposition and a second rotational positioning, respectively, with one ormore cables 6129 for powering at least one of the pan motor 6115, tiltmotor 6120, extend motor 6125 and one or more gripper actuators, as willbe described subsequently in detail with regard to implementations.

In implementations, each lifter of the two or more lifters 6100 a-d caninclude a tilt motor 6120 a-d for raising and lowering the gripper 6105with respect to a surface of the conveyor 6030 defined by an x-axisL_(HX) parallel to the direction of travel, or run direction R, of theconveyor 6030 and a y-axis L_(HY) perpendicular to the direction oftravel of the conveyor 6030 as shown in FIG. 6A. In implementations, thearm tilt motor 6120 a-d is positioned at least a distance of 0-600 cmover the conveyor 6030. In implementations, the arm tilt motor 6120 a-dis positioned at least a distance of 300 mm over the conveyor 6030. Thisensures significant overlap of the sweep volumes of the arms 6110 a-ddirectly over (e.g., above) the conveyor 6030. In implementations, atilt motor 6120 comprises an encoder for detecting a position of thelifter 6100. As shown in FIGS. 7C, the tilt motor 6120 of a lifter 6100is configured to tilt an arm 6110 in a rotational tilt direction θ abouta tilt axis T approximately aligned with a longitudinal axis of the tiltmotor 6210, thus moving a gripper 6105 upward along a the vertical L_(Z)(e.g., z-axis).

In implementations, each lifter of the two or more lifters 6100 a-d caninclude an extend motor 6125 a-d for pushing and pulling an associatedarm 6110 a-d forward and back in a linear direction E along an axis 6130a-d of each arm 6110 a-d and thereby driving each gripper 6105 a-dtoward and away from its associated base 6102 a-d. For example, as shownin FIGS. 7B-F, the extend motor 6125 drives a friction wheel 6126configured to engage a surface of the arm 6110. The arm 6110 is seatedin two or more rotatable support wheels 6127 a-c configured to hold thearm in steady alignment as the friction wheel 6126 retracts and extendsthe arm 6110 therealong into and out of the work volume 6035. Inimplementations, as depicted in the end view of FIG. 7F, the rotatablesupport wheels 6127 a-c comprise v-groove ball bearings and one or morecorners of an arm 6110 is disposed on and movably supported by thev-groove of each bearing. Additionally or alternatively, inimplementations, the rotatable support wheels 6127 a-c comprise one ormore crowned rollers having rounded edges to guarantee no wear on anengaged arm 6110 a-d. In implementations, the rotatable support wheels6127 a-c are configured to withstand maximum radial and axial loadsduring high-acceleration motions of a heavy article (e.g., an articlecomprising a weight in a range of between about 3 kg to 5 kg) supportedby each arm 6110 a-d.

In implementations, the extend motor 6125 comprises an encoder fordetecting an absolute extend position of the arm 6110. The one or moredrive motors 6115 a-d, 6120 a-d, 6125 a-d can operate simultaneously, insome sub-combination, or alternate operation to move each gripper 6105a-d to a location within the work volume 6035 for engaging a deformablelaundry article disposed therein. Each gripper 6105 a-d is configured toreleasably engage the deformable laundry article and operate at leastone of independently of and in tandem with another of the two or morelifters 6100 a-d to at least one of raise and suspend the deformablelaundry article above the conveyor 6030 (e.g., the floor of the workvolume 6035).

In implementations, each arm 6110 a-d can comprise an extruded beamconfigured to extend from an associated base 6102 a-d at one of theindividually anchored positions A-D. In implementations, an arm 6110 a-dcan have no joints along its length, and a length from end to end thatmeasures between about 0.25 m and 4 m (e.g., 0.25 m, 0.5 m, 1.0 m, 1.25m, 1.5 m, 1.75 m, 2.0 m, 2.25 m, 2.5 m, 2.75 m, 3.0 m, 3.25 m, 3.5 m,3.75 m, 4.0 m). In implementations, each one of the arms 6110 a-d is anextendable arm comprising a fully extended length of between about 0.25m and 4 m (e.g., 0.25 m, 0.5 m, 1.0 m, 1.25 m, 1.5 m, 1.75 m, 2.0 m,2.25 m, 2.5 m, 2.75 m, 3.0 m, 3.25 m, 3.5 m, 3.75 m, 4.0 m). Inexamples, the extendable arm can include at least one of one or moreflexible joints (e.g., a shoulder, an elbow, a wrist) and two or moretelescoping sections (not shown). In implementations, the one or moreflexible joints comprises a compliant wrist disposed between theextendable rod of the arm 6110 and the terminal gripper 6105. Inimplementations, the one or more flexible joints comprises a hingedand/or rotatable wrist disposed between the extendable rod of the arm6110 and the terminal gripper 6105, as described in more detail in FIGS.10, 11, 13 , and 15A.

In implementations, the pan motor 6115 comprises a power output in arange of between about 30-1800 W. In implementations, the tilt motorcomprises a power output in a range of between about 120-3550 W motor.In implementations, the extend motor comprises a power output in a rangeof between about 60-1690 W motor. The bottom end of the ranges comprisepower ratings for pan, tilt, and extend motors controlling an arm 6110repositioning an article 10 having a weight between about 0.1-1.25 kg oran article having a weight in the range of about 3-5 kg traversing thespace slowly (2-5 seconds). The top end of the ranges compriserequirements for repositioning an article 10 having a weight of betweenabout 3-5 kg traversing the space quickly (1-2 seconds), whereintraversing the space comprises moving through a full range of motion ofany in individual joint (e.g., pan, tilt, extend). These ranges andvalues are intended to address the ranges and values of the plurality ofvaried laundry article types typically generated by a household.

Joints and telescoping arms can be implemented to accommodate spaceconstraints, but the additional moving sections can create pinch pointsfor potential entangling the deformable laundry article 10. Inimplementations, the motions of each arm 6110 a-d have a resolution of+/−5 mm in all three cardinal directions (L_(HX), L_(HY), L_(Z)). Thisprecision enables alignment of an associated gripper 6105 a-d beforegrabbing a grip point 15 a-d on a deformable laundry article 10. Inimplementations, each arm 6110 a-d moves the associated gripper 6105 a-dwithin a spherical work volume having a radius defined by the arm 6110a-d. The linear error introduced by degrees of pan and/or tilt at a fullextension of the arm 6110 a-d comprises a range of about +/−5 mm.

As previously described, in implementations, the two or more arms 6110a-d comprise four arms anchored about the work volume. Inimplementations, as shown in FIGS. 8A-C, each arm has a range of motiondefining a traversable volume 6112, 6112 a-d that overlaps with thetraversable volumes 6112 a-d defined by a range of motion of each of theother the two or more arms 6110 a-d. FIG. 8A depicts a singletraversable volume 6112 of an arm mounted above the plane of theconveyor 6030. FIGS. 8B-C depict two traversable volumes of two armsmounted to and panning, tilting, and extending from pedestals on theshared floor beneath the conveyor 6030. (All other arms of the pluralityof arms 6100 a-d are omitted for clarity.)

In implementations adjacent arm traversable volumes 6112 a-d overlap forat least 0.30 meter (e.g., about 1 ft) for the full vertical height ofthe work volume 6035, from a surface of the conveyor 6030 to a maximumsuspension height SH in the direction of the z-axis L_(Z) within thework volume 6035. Overlapping the traversable volumes 6112 a-d withinthe work volume 6035 ensures that the two or more lifters 6100 a-d areconfigured to access a deformable laundry article 10 disposed within thework volume regardless of position and orientation. This enables therepositioning robot 6000 to select a nearest or best positionedassociated gripper 6105 a-d of the two or more lifters 6100 a-d withwhich to engage the deformable laundry article successfully andefficiently. In implementations, each arm 6110 a-d is configured totraverse the work volume 6035 in a range of about 0.5 to 1.25 secondswhile an associated gripper 6105 a-d is engaged with a lightweightarticle 10 weighing in a range of between about 0.10 kg to 1.25 kg. Inimplementations, each arm 6110 a-d is configured to traverse the workvolume 6035 in a range of about 0.5 to 2.5 seconds while an associatedgripper 6105 a-d is engaged with an article 10 weighing in a range ofbetween about 2 kg to 3 kg. In implementations, each arm 6110 a-d isconfigured to traverse the work volume 6035 in about 2 seconds while anassociated gripper 6105 a-d is engaged with a heavy article 10 weighingabout 7.5 kg. In any of the above implementations, traversing the workvolume 6035 is defined as any traversal including at least one of a fullrange of pan, full range of tilt, and full range of extend motions ofthe arm 6110 a-d and associated gripper 6105 a-d.

As previously described, each arm 6110 a-d of the two or more lifters6100 a-d terminates at an associated gripper 6105 a-d (hereinafteralternatively referred to as “a gripper 6105”). In implementations, agripper 6105, including the gripper fingers 6107, can be manufacturedfrom a lightweight, impact resistant material, such as aluminum orsteel. In implementations, as shown in FIGS. 9A-F, each gripper 6105comprises at least two actuatable fingers 6107 a-b. In implementations,the at least two actuatable fingers comprise an overmold 6108 a-bcomprising a durometer of between about 40 A to 90 A. For example, theovermold can comprise at least one of a polymer or copolymer includingat least one of a rubber, a thermoplastic elastomer, (TPE),thermoplastic polyurethane (TPU), thermoplastic vulcanizates (TPV), andsilicone. The overmold provides protection of the encapsulated fingersand any delicate fabrics of the deformable laundry article 10.Additionally, having a soft fingertip enables finer grasping or grabbingof deformable laundry articles 10 from a surface, such as the conveyor6030. In implementations, a gripping surface of each finger of a gripper6105 a-d comprises a textured surface, e.g., ribs, bumps, ridges, and/orother protuberance, for assisting with gripping the fabric of an articlewith some degree of friction and/or perturbation. Additionally oralternatively, an outside surface (e.g., opposite the gripping surface)of each finger of a gripper 6105 a-d comprises a smooth surface forpreventing the fabric of an article from sticking to an outside surfaceof the gripper 6105 a-d.

In implementations, the gripper 6105 is washable and capable ofwithstanding heavy liquid spray and/or immersion and can have an IPrating of at least one of IP65, IP66, and IP56. In implementations, eachgripper 6105 is about 300 mm long, about 100 mm high, and weighs about500 grams. In implementations, as shown in FIGS. 9G-H, the gripper 6105comprises a glove 6104 or covering to prevent a deformable article fromgetting caught on at least one of a topography or interface of movablecomponents of the gripper 6105 during the repositioning process. Inimplementations, the covering can be a flexible, dirt repellant fabric.Additionally or alternatively, in implementations, the coveringcomprises a liquid-impermeable material configured for enabling washingof the covered gripper. In implementations, the covering can be at leastone of polyester, rayon, thermoplastic polyurethane, nitrile,closed-cell foams, rubbers, silicone, and NEOPRENE. The glove 6104 isflexible and/or stretchable such that the fingers 6107 a-b can moveapart and together without any disruptive resistive forces.

The at least two actuatable fingers 6107 a-b can rotate about parallelpivot points 6106 a-b. In implementations, the at least two actuatablefingers 6107 a-b are configured to be actuated by a drive assembly 6109to rotate simultaneously while gripping a deformable laundry article 10.In implementations, the drive assembly 6109 can be cable driven orpneumatic. The drive assembly 6109, as shown in FIG. 9F, can be mountedto the arm 6110 and can be 100 mm long and weigh 500 grams. Inimplementations, the drive assembly 6109 comprises a cross sectionradius 6111 of less than 100 mm from the axis 6130 of the arm 6110 inany direction.

As previously described with regard to implementations, the grippingsurface of the at least two actuatable fingers 6107 a-b can comprise atextured surface for improved gripping. Additionally or alternatively,in implementations, the gripping surface of each one of the at least twoactuatable fingers 6107 a-b comprises one or more mechanical interlocks(not shown) disposed in the fingers configured to trap the grippedarticle 10. For example, the one or more mechanical interlocks cancomprise at least one of rubber strips that mesh around the article 10(e.g., like a zipper), a ball and socket, ridged teeth, and matingcones.

In implementations, a gripper 6105 can comprise the following designfactors shown in table 1:

TABLE 1 Grip strength 50N Finger strength-to-force ratio 2.0 Grip force25N Contact distance 80 mm Grip torque 2 N-m Gripper transmission factor22 mm Cable tension 90N (20 lbs) Cable 2045 SN [220 lb breakingstrength, 7 × 19 construction, 1.12 mm diameter] Motor pulley radius 14mm Motor torque 1.26 N-m

In implementations, the following definitions apply to the designfactors of table 1. Grip strength is the maximum force that can beapplied to moving the deformable laundry article 10. It can also bethought of as the force required to pull a deformable laundry article 10out of a gripper 6105. The at least two actuatable fingers 6107 a-b areconfigured to make contact with the deformable laundry article 10 anddirectly impart the force that moves the deformable laundry article 10(grip strength). This force is due to a combination of friction (whenthe force is generally parallel to the gripping surface) and normaltension (e.g., when the deformable laundry article 10 is wrapped overone of the two or more fingers 6107 a-b). In implementations, such asthat depicted in FIGS. 9C and 9D, the gripper 6105 comprises a sweetspot SS which comprises the volume between the two fingers 6107 a-b inwhich an article must be (e.g., the contact area CA) when the gripperactuates in order for the grasp to be successful.

Grip force is the force the two or more fingers 6107 a-b push againsteach other (when empty) or the deformable laundry article 10 (whenengaged). The grip force is determined by the grip torque and thecontact distance CD (e.g., distance between finger pivot 6106 andcontact point with the deformable laundry article 10 as shown in 9C). Ifthe deformable laundry article 10 is engaged at a single point, the gripforce equals the grip torque divided by the contact distance. Inembodiments, calculations are based on the center of the contact areadefining the contact point. Strength-to-force ratio is the ratio betweengrip strength and grip force. In implementations, grip strength and gripforce are directly proportional so that the ratio is fixed for a givencombination of finger 6107, deformable laundry article 10 type andshape. In other implementations, grip strength and grip force have asigmoidal relationship. For example, this applies to grippers 6105 thatcreate a normal force or otherwise ‘lock’ the deformable laundry article10 into place between the fingers 6107 a-b. Grip torque is the torque onthe joints of the fingers 6107 a-b. This is dependent on the cabletension and gripper geometry and can be increased by increasing thelever arm in the gripper 6105, but this increases the gripper size.Cable tension is dependent on the motor torque and lever arm at themotor. This sets the minimum diameter of the cable. Cable tension can beincreased by decreasing the motor lever arm, but in implementationsusing a pulley wheel, a minimum diameter is required to ensure the cabledoes not break. Motor torque is minimized to reduce cost and weight ofthe motor.

FIGS. 9A-B depict exemplary grippers comprising linkages and pulleys,respectively, for moving the fingers 6107 a-b by turning translationalcable displacement into angular motion. In one implementation employinga pulley (FIG. 9B), two cables 6113 are threaded through the fingerjoints 6116. In another implementation employing linkages (FIG. 9A), asingle cable is looped around a pin. The linkage system is configured toamplify torque as the fingers 6107 a-b close.

In other implementations, as shown in FIGS. 10-16D, a gripper 6105 cancomprise a pneumatic actuator. In implementations, as depicted in FIGS.16C-D, the fingers 6107 a-b are joined by linkages 6114 to one anotherand an actuatable cylinder 6172. The gripper 6105 is lightweight,quickly actuated, and built to withstand cycles on order of magnitude inthe millions or higher. In implementations, at least one pneumatic tuberuns through a hollow conduit extending the length of the arm 6110. Inimplementations, two pneumatic tubes run through the hollow conduit,each one of the pneumatic tubes configured to be in fluid connectionwith one of two sides of a pneumatic actuator. The gripper mechanism isdriven by a linear motion, which is translated into finger rotation bythe linkages 6114 symmetrically disposed about the actuatable cylinder6172. In implementations, the controller 6005 actuates the gripper 6105to close (e.g., clamp shut) the fingers 6107 a-b by pressurizing oneside of a pneumatic actuator. In implementations, the controller 6005actuates the gripper 6105 to open (e.g., spread apart) the fingers 6107a-b by pressurizing the other side of the pneumatic actuator.Additionally or alternatively, in implementations, the fingers can beheld open by a cylinder and return spring assembly, which can be weakenough to allow any tangled deformable laundry article 10 to slip offthe fingers. Pneumatic actuators have the advantage of being easy toseal against ingress of dirt and germs.

As described herein with regard to implementations, the arm 6110comprises a hollow tube. In implementations, two or more cables runningthrough the arm comprise at least one of one or more pneumatic tubes,one or more power cables for the swivel joint 6167, and one or moreEthernet cables for the swivel joint 6167. Additionally, oralternatively, in implementations, two or more cables are configured toconnect to a break out box on the non-gripper end of the arm 6110.Alternatively, the arm 6110 can comprise a switch (not shown) on thenon-gripper end of the arm and minimize the amount of cables runningtherethrough.

In implementations, the cables 6129 going through a pan joint of alifter 6100 can comprise, for example, a plurality of Ethernet cables.The plurality of Ethernet cables comprise at least two of the following:one for communicating with the tilt drive, one for communicating withthe extend drive, one for communicating with a wrist assembly 6170swivel drive, and one for communicating with a wrist assembly 6170 hingedrive, one of which hinge and swive drive cables also communicates witha drive of the gripper 6105 for opening and closing the fingers 6107a-b. Additionally or alternatively, in implementations, the cables 6129going through a pan joint of a lifter 6100 comprise a plurality of powercables comprising two 8-conductor power cables configured to transmitpower for the tilt and extend motors, and two 2-conductor power cables,one of which powers all logic (e.g., logic for extend and tilt) and theother of which provides power to a wrist assembly 6170, gripper 6105control, logic for the wrist and gripper 6105. Additionally oralternatively, in implementations, the cables 6129 going through the panjoint of a lifter 6100 comprise at least one pneumatic tube configuredto open and close the gripper 6105.

In implementations, the cables extending from through the hollow of thearm 6110 to the wrist assembly 6170 and gripper 6105 comprise at leastone of the following cables: a cable for transmitting swivel motor powerfor the wrist assembly 6170, at least one cable for transmitting logicpower, at least one cable for transmitting wrist assembly 6170 swivelmotor data (e.g., Ethernet cable), one pneumatic tube for opening thegripper 6105, one pneumatic tube for closing the gripper 6105, at leastone hinge actuation cable 6118, 6118 a,b (e.g., steel cable), at leastone hinge encoder cable, and at least one hinge limit switch cable.

Alternatively, in implementations, the cables 6129 going through a panjoint of a lifter 6100 comprise, for example, one Ethernet cableconnected to a switch and communicating with the tilt drive, extenddrive, wrist assembly 6170 swivel drive, wrist assembly 6170 hingedrive, gripper 6105, and any additional sensors (e.g., absolute positionsensors). Additionally or alternatively, in implementations, the cables6129 going through a pan joint of a lifter 6100 comprise a plurality ofpower cables comprising one 8 or more conductor power cable configuredto transmit power for the tilt, extend, wrist assembly 6170 swiveldrive, and wrist assembly 6170 hinge drive and a 2-conductor power cableconfigured to transmit power for the logic. In implementations, one 8 ormore conductor power cable is configured to transmit power for all motordrives and that power is also regulated to provide power for all logic.Additionally or alternately, in implementations, the power cable can beany number of conductors, configured to be flexible enough to allow panrotation and with sufficient current-carrying capacity to power allmotor drives and logic. In implementations, the cables further compriseat least one pneumatic tube to power opening and closing a pneumaticgripper.

In implementations, as shown in FIGS. 10-13, and 15A the lifter 6100comprises an arm 6110 terminating at a wrist assembly 6170 and a gripper6105 releasably fixed thereto. The a wrist assembly 6170 terminating atthe gripper 6105 configured to extend into the work volume. Disposed onthe opposite end of the arm 6110 is a backend assembly 6132 which willbe described subsequent in detail with regard to the implementation ofFIG. 14 .

As previously described with regard to FIG. 5 , in implementations, eachlifter 6100 a-d comprises an actuatable wrist assembly 6170 comprising awrist drive 6355 in operable communication with the controller 6005 forrotating and/or tilting the wrist assembly 6170 to which a gripper 6105is attached. Additionally or alternatively, in implementations, eachlifter comprises one or more gripper sensors 6360 such as one or moresensors for detecting an angular position of a gripper 6105 comprising arotatable and/or hinged wrist and fingertip pressure sensors disposed inthe fingers of the gripper for detecting contact forces with an articleof clothing and/or the workspace floor 6030.

As shown for example in the cross section view of the wrist assembly6170 of FIGS. 16A, C-D, an actuatable cylinder 6172 is configured tomove in and out so that a center pin 6173 between the linked fingers6107 a-b of the gripper 6105 moves down during actuation of the cylinder6172 and the fingers 6107 a-b of the gripper 6105 close like a vicegrip. The actuated cylinder 6172 is configured to pull at 10 lbs forceso that fingers 6107 a-b of the gripper 6105 close with at least 10 lbsforce thereby enabling a very strong grip with single pneumaticactuator. In implementations, the fingers 6107 a-b of the gripper 6105close with a force therebetween in a range of between about 5 and 30 lbsof force. In implementations, the fingers 6107 a-b of the gripper 6105close with a force therebetween in a range of between about 10 to 15 lbsof force. The pneumatic actuatable cylinder 6172 is lightweight comparedto gripper actuated with a motor, and the gripper 6105 is compactbecause the actuatable cylinder 6172 disposed thereon does not requirepower and data cables extending through a rotation joint. Inimplementations, the actuatable cylinder 6172 is configured to be backdriven. In implementations, the wrist assembly is easy to remove andservice. As shown in FIGS. 15A-B, air is routed to a back block 6185 at,for example, a pressure of 20 psi. The front block 6184 comprises aplurality of pass throughs sealed with O-rings to prevent leakage. FIG.15B shows a pass through and O-ring 6187 with the front block 6184removed. All actuation passes through the front and rear blocks wherewrist assembly 6070 is mounted to the remainder of the wrist disposed onthe arm 6110. Pneumatic tubes extend from back fittings 6189 a-bdisposed on the back block 6185 and pass down the hollow center of thearm. The passthroughs are routed through front fittings configured toconnect to pneumatic cylinder actuator fittings 6189 a-b.

In implementations comprising a pneumatic cylinder at 100 psi, a gripper6105 can comprise the following design factors shown in table 2:

TABLE 2 Grip strength 50N Finger strength-to-force ratio 2.0 Grip force25N Contact distance 80 mm Grip torque 2 N-m Gripper transmission factor22 mm Piston force 111N (25 lbs) Piston bore size (assuming 100 psi)9/16″

In implementations, as shown in FIGS. 10-13, 15A, and 16A, the wristassembly 6170 comprises a hinge joint 6165 and a swivel joint 6167. Thishinge joint 6165 enables the wrist assembly 6170 to tilt the gripper6105 from side to side in the direction of arrow 6166 for an improvedgrasping angle and the swivel joint 6167 enables the wrist assembly 6170to rotate bidirectionally around a longitudinal axis 6130 of the arm6110 in the direction of double arrow 6168. This enables the wristassembly 6170, for example to, twist and disentangle the gripper 6105attached thereto from an entangled article stuck thereon and/or twistedon or both fingers 6107 a-b of the gripper 6105. In implementations,during a twist maneuver, the lifter is configured to drop the gripper6105 down and move it away from the article out at or faster than thespeed of gravity such that the article thereon falls freely onto theconveyor 6030.

In implementations, as shown in FIGS. 15A and 16A, the hinge joint 6165comprises a pulley 6174 comprising a slot 6169 in one side comprising acentral “divot” (e.g., rectangular opening wider than the remainder ofthe slot). The divot (not shown) is configured to receive there in anend stop (e.g., a swage or ferrule) (not shown) of each of two cables6188 a-b. The inner wall between the slot 6169 and the divot preventsthe at least two cables 6188 a-b from sliding. As the pulley 6174 turns,it pulls the at least two cables 6188 a-b and relies on the strength ofthe swage to retain the ends of the cables in the slot 6169. Inimplementations, the at least two cables 6188 a-b are configured tothread through the slot 6169 on the outside surface of the pulley 6174with the swage secured therein, wrap around pulley 6174, and extend downthe hollow interior of the arm 6110. Friction forces imparted bywrapping the two cables 6188 a-b around the pulley 6174 alleviates someof the force imparted on the swage.

In implementations, as the gripper 6105 swivels around the swivel joint6167, the at least two cables 6188 a-b will cross and touch. Inimplementations, the at least two cables 6188 a-b therefore are coatedto prevent wear from crossing and touching.

Because the extend arm 6110 is straight, the at least two cables 6188a-b are protected from wear cycles that would otherwise be associatedwith routing over one or more additional pulleys. The at least twocables 6188 a-b extend from the pulley 6174 to respective idler wheels6176 a-b and a pass through a tube 6182 configured to direct the atleast two cables 6188 a-b into the hollow interior of the arm 6110. Theat least two cables 6188 a-b extend through the hollow interior down thelength of the arm 6110 and out the back end of the arm 6110 to two motorend pulleys 6136 a-b as shown in FIGS. 13-15A and 16A. The two motor endpulleys 6136 a-b are rotated by motor 6134. Because the hinge motor 6134is mounted on the back end (e.g., the end opposite the gripper 6105) ofthe arm 6110, the gripper end of the arm 6110 remains lightweight forimproved agility in gripping and raising the mass of an article. Thehinge motor 6134 being mounted on the back end of the arm 6110 relievestilt motor from having to lift that weight and makes the lifter 6100more capable of moving heavier articles.

In implementations, the motor end pulleys 6136 a-b are “split” forimproved tensioning, each one of the pulleys receiving an end of arespective one of the at least two cables 6188 a-b. The at least twocables 6188 a-b extending out the back end of the arm 6110 arerespectively for laterally tilting the wrist 6150 in opposite directionsas indicated by bidirectional arrow 6166. One of the cables 6188 a-bemanates from a left side of the pulley slot 6169 of the pulley 6174 andthe other from the right side of the gripper side pully slot 6169. Inimplementations, the right side cable 6168 b is constructed by droppinga terminating swage into the central divot of the slot 6169. With aterminating swage of the cable secured inside the hinge pulley 6174 thecable extends out of slot 6169, wraps clockwise 3 times (omitted forclarity) around the pulley 6174, and extends down the arm 6110 to theback end assembly 6132. The right side cable 6168 b extends out the backof the arm 6110 and wraps three times around the bottom motor end pulley6136 b. Coming from the right, the right side cable wraps 3 timesclockwise around the bottom motor end pulley 6136 b. After the cable iswrapped around, the swage drops into a divot the bottom motor end pulley6136 b with the cable passing through a slot 6137 b (not shown) of thebottom motor end pulley 6136 b. A second of the cables 6188 a-b emanatesfrom a left side of the hinge pulley 7174 and extends in the same wayfrom the pulley 6174 to the back end assembly 6132 but wraps counterclockwise around the top pulley 6136 a before the terminating end issecured in the slot 6137 a. The top pulley and bottom pulley thus wrapand unwrap lengths of the at least two cables 6188 a-b as they arerotated by the motor 6134 to tilt the gripper 6105 at the hinge joint6165 along the bi-directional arrow 6166 at the hinge joint 6165.

In implementations, for tensioning the left and right cables 6188 a-b,the entire assembly for the motor 6134 is disposed on a swivel armhaving therein an adjustable bolt that pulls the entire motor assemblyback in tension. If the distances of the left and right cables 6188 a-bare different, this could result in uneven tension. So inimplementations, an initial tension is applied before a final tensionsof the motor assembly swivel arm. Because the two motor end pulleys 6136a-b are split with one dedicated to each of the left and right cables6188 a-b, they can be tensioned against one another before being bolteddown. In implementations, one or more bolts are disposed between the twomotor end pulleys 6136 a-b, and the two pulleys 6136 a-b can be twistedin opposite directions with, for example, a spanner wrench beforebolting down. This tensioning ensures the lengths of the left and rightcables 6188 a-b are effectively even.

Turning now to FIG. 16B, the wrist assembly 6170 is shown tilted at thehinge joint 6165 in one direction of the bi-directional arrow 6166. Inimplementations, the tilt angle is past 90 degrees (e.g., horizontal).In implementations, the tilt angle comprises a range of between about 5to 35 degrees past a 90 degree tilt angle in either direction. Inimplementations, the tilt angle comprises a range of about 25 to 30degrees past a 90 degree angle in either direction.

In implementations, the wrist assembly 6170 comprises an absoluteposition sensor for detecting and measuring the motion of the hingejoint 6165, such as a hinge encoder 6190 (e.g., a magnetic quadratureencoder) disposed behind a wrist plate and a magnet disposed on an outercorner 6175 (e.g., the corner that sees the extreme tilt angle) of ahinge flange 6164 of the hinge joint 6165. In implementations, anencoder encodes motion of the hinge (e.g. an encoder over the hingebolt).

Turning now to the swivel joint 6167 that enables the wrist assembly6170 to rotate up to 180 degrees in either direction along bidirectionalarrow 6168, around a longitudinal central axis 6130 of the arm 6110, inimplementations, the swivel joint 6167 does not comprise an absoluteencoder is not absolutely encoded. In implementations, the swivel joint6167 comprises an incremental encoder and/or speed encoder disposed on aback shaft of a swivel motor 6180 directly connected to the swivel joint6167. Additionally or alternatively, in implementations, the swiveljoint comprises an absolute position sensor (e.g. encoder) in additionto a speed encoder being disposed on a back shaft of a swivel motor6180.

The swivel joint 6167 comprises the swivel motor 6180 configured todrive a drive gear 6178 enmeshed with an idler gear that is enmeshedwith a swivel output gear. This configuration allows the wrist assembly6170 to rotate without any slip and without requiring tensions otherwiserequired by a belt driven swivel joint 6167. The amount of stressimparted to the at least two cables 6188 a-b over their length (e.g., inimplementations, approximately 6 foot lengths down the hollow of the arm6110) are relatively low as the swivel joint 6167 swivels such that theswivel joint 6167 is able to rotate bidirectionally, up to 180 degrees.

Turning to FIGS. 17A-C, in implementations, the gripper 6105additionally or alternatively comprises a wrist 6150′ comprising aplurality of sensors 6155 a-d, 6160 configured to sense an applicationof force on the gripper 6105 as applied in various directions includingat least one of up and down, sided to side, and axially. Inimplementations, the gripper 6105 comprises a pneumatic gripper aspreviously described with regard to implementations, but without anactuated wrist comprising a swivel joint and hinge joint. The pluralityof sensors 6155 a-d, 6160 are configured to output a signal to thecontroller 6005. The wrist 6150′ is disposed between the fingers 6107a-b and the arm 6110. In implementations, the wrist 6150′ comprises aplurality of compression springs 6162 a-d configured to flex andcompress under an application of force and a rod 6163 configured to tripone or more limit switch sensors 6155 a-d, 6160 under an application ofa threshold force. For example, the rod 5765 can comprise and trip oneof the one or more limit switch sensors 6155 a-d, 6160 under anapplication of 5 pounds of force. Although the sensors are described aslimit switches, in implementations, the plurality of sensors 6155 a-d,6160 can be one or more analog sensors configured to detect how much theterminal gripper has moved. In implementations, the sensor 6160 behindthe rod 6163 is configured to detect if the gripper 6105 has impactedthe conveyor 6030 (e.g., floor) the work volume 6035 head on, therebyapplying an axial force.

In implementations, the controller 6005 receives one or more signalsfrom the plurality of sensors 6155 a-d, 6160 and determines theapplication of a side-to-side force indicative of a deformable articlebeing snagged on a first arm or terminal gripper while the terminalgripper of a subsequent arm of the plurality of arms grasps the article.In implementations, the controller 6005 receives one or more signalsfrom the plurality of sensors 6155 a-d, 6160 and determines theapplication of a threshold amount of axial force applied as the terminalgripper 6105 pushes against the conveyor 6030 (e.g., floor) the workvolume 6035 to grasp an article 10 resting on the floor. For example, anarticle such as a thin silk scarf, may be smooth and comprises a lowprofile. The terminal gripper 6105 can comprise flexible fingers 6107a-b and be configured to accommodate being driven into the floor with athreshold amount of force (e.g., 1 lbf, 2 lbf, 3 lbf) while enabling theflexible fingers 6107 a-b to be actuated in a grasping motion. Inimplementations, the controller 6005 receives one or more signals fromthe plurality of sensors 6155 a-d, 6160 and determines the applicationof a threshold amount of axial force applied as the terminal gripper6105 pushes against a deformable article 10 to ensure the terminalgripper 6105 is positioned in contact with the deformable article 10 forsuccessfully grasping the article.

In addition to the two or more lifters 6100 a-d and associated grippers6105 a-d, implementations of the repositioning robot 6000 include atleast one sensor 6128, 6128 a-d, 6040, 6040 a, 6040 b disposed at afixed location relative to the work volume 6035. In implementations, asshown in FIG. 6B, two or more sensors 6040 a, 6040 b are disposed at twoor more fixed locations about the work volume 6035 and spaced apart by adistance Ds ranging between about 30 cm to 400 cm. In implementations,the two or more sensors 6040 a, 6040 b are positioned apart from the twoor more lifters 6100 a-d. In implementations, the two or more sensors6040 a, 6040 b are stationary and anchored apart from the associatedbases 6102 a-d of each of the two or more lifters 6100 a-d. Inimplementations, the two or more sensors 6040 a, 6040 b are notcollocated with the two or more lifters 6100 a-d. Additionally oralternatively, in implementations, at least one of, two or more sensors6128 a-b are co-located at one or more of the individually anchoredpositions A-D and are anchored to be stationary. In implementations, thetwo or more sensors 6128, 6040 are anchored to a floor beneath theconveyor 6030 and at locations astride the conveyor. In implementations,as shown in FIGS. 7A-E, at least one of the two or more sensors 6128 a-bis mounted to a base 6102, 6102 a-d of one or more of the lifters 6100a-d beneath the arm 6110 and aimed upward at an angle 6043 fromhorizontal above a surface of the conveyor with a wide field of view6044. In implementations, the field of view 6044 comprises the entireheight of the work volume such that a sensor is configured to detectwhether a hoisted gripper 6105 is engaged with a suspended article 10 ormissed a grab. Additionally or alternatively, in implementations, one ormore of the two or more sensors 6040 a, 6040 b can be at least one ofanchored above the conveyor and attached to one or more of a ceiling anda support structure disposed about the work volume 6035 withoutinterfering with the motion of the two or more lifters 6100 a-d.

In implementations, the two or more sensors 6128, 6128 a-d, 6040, 6040a, 6040 b are configured to at least one of detect one or more featuresand capture one or more images of the deformable laundry articledisposed within the work volume 6035. The two or more sensors 6128, 6128a-d, 6040, 6040 a, 6040 b are configured to output a signal comprisingthe at least one of the detected one of one or more features andcaptured one or more images. In implementations the output signal can becommunicated to the processor 6015 by the network interface 6020 asdescribed previously with regard to the implementations of FIGS. 4 and 5. Also with reference to FIGS. 4 and 5 , the repositioning robot 6000includes a memory 6010 configured to store data indicative of one ormore repositioned deformable laundry articles. The memory can receiveand store information about one or more deformable articles provided bya controller 5005 the separating robot 5000 in wired or wirelesscommunication with the controller 6005 of the repositioning robot 6000.In implementations, the repositioning robot 6000 comprises a controller6005 in operable communication with the memory 6010, the two or moresensors 6128, 6128 a-d, 6040, 6040 a, 6040 b, and the at least one drivemotor 6115 a-d, 6120 a-d, 6125 a-d and gripper 6105 a-d of each of thetwo or more lifters 6100 a-d. The controller is in operablecommunication with the at least one arm drive motor, the at least onerepositioning drive motor, the at least one separation sensor, and thetwo or more repositioning sensors. In implementations, the controller6005 includes the processor 6015 as described with regard to FIGS. 4 and5 . In other implementations, one or more of the controller and memorycan be implemented by another network entity in communication with theprocessor 6015 of the repositioning robot 6000 via the network 230. Forexample, a computing terminal 205 can be configured to execute some orall of the controller functions and an external database 235 can storethe data indicative of one or more repositioned deformable laundryarticles. The data can be stored in look up tables and accessible by oneor more robots of the process line 100 and one or more network entities,such as the computing terminal 205.

In implementations, the controller 6005 is configured to receive theoutput signal from one or more of the two or more sensors 6128, 6128a-d, 6040, 6040 a, 6040 b. Referencing FIG. 18A, the controller 6005 isconfigured to identify, based on the output signal, one or more grippoints 15 a-d adjacent one or more free-hanging edges 16 a-b of thedeformable laundry article 10 suspended above the conveyor 6030 by one6100 a of the two or more lifters 6100 a-d. In implementations, the oneor more grip points 15 a-d are within 6 mm to 130 mm of the one or morefree-hanging edges. In some implementations, the one or more grip pointsinclude one or more free-hanging edges. In other implementations, theone or more grip points need not be collocated or even tangential to oneor more free-hanging edges. In implementations, the repositioning robot6000 is configured to grip anywhere on the deformable laundry article 10and does not need to grip an edge of the article 10.

While the article 10 is suspended above the conveyor 6030, a gripper6105 a associated with the one lifter 6100 a of the two or more liftersis engaged with the deformable laundry article 10 and positioned at(e.g. raised to) a suspension height SH. The controller 6005 isconfigured to instruct another of the two or more lifters 6100 b-d togrip, with an associated gripper 6105 b-d, one grip point 15 c of theone or more grip points 15 a-d on the deformable laundry article 10 andlift the gripped one 15c of the one or more grip points the suspensionheight SH, as shown in FIG. 18B.

The controller 6005 is configured to determine whether the deformablelaundry article 10 suspended by the one lifter 6100 a and the anotherlifter 6100 d of the two or more lifters 6100 a-d is repositioned basedon a comparison of the output signal to the data indicative of one ormore repositioned deformable laundry articles. If the controller 6005determines based on the comparison that the deformable laundry article10, the controller 6005 is configured to instruct the one lifter 6100 aand the another lifter 6100 d of the two or more lifters to lower therepositioned deformable laundry article 10 onto the conveyor 6030, andrelease the repositioned deformable laundry article 10 disposed on theconveyor 6030. As will be described subsequently in more detail withregard to implementations of methods of repositioning the deformablelaundry article 10, if the controller determines based on the comparisonthat the deformable laundry article 10 is not repositioned, thecontroller 6005 is configured to instruct another of the one or morelifters 6100 a-d to engage and lift to the suspension height anothergrip point of the deformable laundry article 10 and instruct the onelifter 6100 a to disengage from the deformable laundry article 10. Aswill be described in detail with regard to implementations, thecontroller 6005 is configured to iteratively instruct the two or morelifters 6100 a-d to sequentially grip, lift, and optionally release thedeformable laundry article 10 until the comparison indicates that thedeformable laundry article 10 is repositioned.

In implementations, the deformable laundry article 10 is one of aplurality of deformable laundry articles comprising two or more articletypes of at least one of different sizes and different shapes. Forexample, the deformable laundry article 10 can be one of a plurality oflaundry articles comprising a single load of household laundry.Household laundry can comprise many types of bodily worn garments andcloth articles requiring washing (e.g., sheets, tablecloths, curtains,bath rugs). These garments and articles are deformable meaning they donot hold their shape when lifted by a single grip. Because garments andother cloth articles are supple, they deform when raised by a singlegrip. Different items of the plurality of laundry articles may havedifferent thickness and stiffness values depending on the material andstyle of the item. For example, a woven bathmat will be stiffer than asilk blouse. The plurality of laundry articles in a single load ofhousehold laundry also can comprise many different laundry articles eachhaving a different weight. Additionally, the size of each deformablelaundry article 10 of the plurality of laundry articles can vary greatlywithin a single load of laundry, such that repositioning each deformablelaundry article 10 requires maneuvers particular to each article. Therepositioning robot 6000 is configured to reposition articles of varyingsize and weight. In one implementation, each of the two or more articletypes comprises a longest dimension in a range of between about 4 cm to500 cm, and the data indicative of one or more repositioned deformablelaundry articles comprises data associated with each of the two or morearticle types.

In implementations, the controller 6005 of the repositioning robot 6000receives one or more characteristics of the deformable article 10 fromthe controller 5005 of the separating robot. Additionally oralternatively, in implementations, the repositioning robot 6000 candetermine information about a deformable laundry article from the outputsignal of the two or more sensors 6128, 6128 a-d, 6040, 6040 a, 6040 b.As previously described, the two or more sensors 6128, 6128 a-d, 6040,6040 a, 6040 b are configured to at least one of detect one or morefeatures and capture one or more images of the deformable laundryarticle disposed within the work volume 6035 and output a signalcomprising the at least one of the detected one of one or more featuresand captured one or more images. In implementations, the one or morefeatures are indicative of at least one of position and orientation ofthe article relative to the two or more sensors. Additionally oralternatively, the one or more features can be indicative of a topologyof the deformable article and the controller is further configured toanalyze the input signal to determine whether the topology matches atleast one datum associated with the one or more repositioned deformablelaundry articles. Additionally or alternatively, the one or moredetected features are one or more edges and/or corners of the deformablearticle 10.

In implementations, the two or more sensors 6128, 6128 a-d, 6040, 6040a, 6040 b can comprise at least one of a 3-D point cloud sensor, a 2-Dcamera, (Light Detection And Ranging, which can entail optical remotesensing that measures properties of scattered light to find range and/orother information of a distant target), LADAR (Laser Detection andRanging)), a sonar proximity sensor, an ultrasonic ranging sensor, aradar sensor (e.g., including Doppler radar and/or millimeter-waveradar) and a pair of stereo depth cameras. In implementations, the twoor more sensors 6128, 6128 a-d, 6040, 6040 a, 6040 b output to thecontroller 6005 at least one of a depth map, RGB images, and IR images.In implementations at least one of the two or more sensors 6128, 6128a-d, 6040, 6040 a, 6040 b comprises a REALSENSE camera configured tooutput any of a depth map, RGB images, and IR images. Inimplementations, the two or more sensors 6128, 6128 a-d, 6040, 6040 a,6040 b can be configured to output 3-D image data to the controller6005. Additionally or alternatively, in implementations, at least one ofthe two or more sensors 6128, 6128 a-d, 6040, 6040 a, 6040 b can beconfigured to output one or more 2-D images to the controller 6005. Inimplementations, each one of the two or more sensors is a camera, andthe camera is calibrated to one or more of the grippers 6105 of the twoor more lifters 6100.

In one implementation, one or more of the two or more sensors 6128, 6128a-d, 6040, 6040 a, 6040 b can be imaging sensors including at least oneof an infrared range sensor and a volumetric point cloud sensorconfigured to generate range value data representative of the deformablelaundry article 10 within the work volume 6035. The two or more sensors6128, 6128 a-d, 6040, 6040 a, 6040 b can be configured to generatepresence value data representative of the deformable laundry articlewithin the observed work volume. In implementations, the presence valuedata can indicate a pose of the deformable laundry article. Inimplementations, the arms 6110 a-d of the two or more lifters 6100 a-dare monolithic extrusions sized to reduce blind spots for an imagingsensor of the two or more sensors 6128, 6128 a-d, 6040, 6040 a, 6040 b.For example, each arm 6110 a-d can have a cross section of a square tubehaving sides of a length in a range of between about 0.5 inch to 2inches and a wall thickness in a range of between about 1/16 inch and ½inch. Such a geometry ensures resistance to moment forces withoutblocking the two or more sensors 6128, 6128 a-d, 6040, 6040 a, 6040 bfrom successfully detecting one or more grip points 15 a-d on thedeformable article 10.

In some implementations, one or more of the two or more sensors 6128,6128 a-d, 6040, 6040 a, 6040 b can be an imaging sensor including astructured-light 3D scanner that measures the three-dimensional shape ofthe deformable laundry article 10 using projected light patterns.Projecting a narrow band of light onto a three-dimensionally shapedsurface produces a line of illumination that appears distorted fromother perspectives than that of the projector, and can be used for anexact geometric reconstruction of the surface shape (light section). Insome implementations, one or more of the two or more sensors 6128, 6128a-d, 6040, 6040 a, 6040 b can be an imaging sensor including atime-of-flight camera (TOF camera), which is a range imaging camerasystem that resolves distance based on the known speed of light,measuring the time-of-flight of a light signal between the camera andthe subject for each point of the image. The time-of-flight camera is aclass of scannerless LIDAR, in which the entire scene is captured witheach laser or light pulse, as opposed to point-by-point with a laserbeam, such as in scanning LIDAR systems. Additionally or alternatively,in some implementations, one or more of the two or more sensors 6128,6128 a-d, 6040, 6040 a, 6040 b can be a scanning LIDAR sensor. In someimplementations, one or more of the two or more sensors 6128, 6128 a-d,6040, 6040 a, 6040 b can be a three-dimensional light detection andranging sensor (e.g., Flash LIDAR) using ultraviolet, visible, or nearinfrared light to image objects. In some implementations, the imagingsensor includes one or more triangulation ranging sensors, such as aposition sensitive device. A position sensitive device and/or positionsensitive detector (PSD) is an optical position sensor (OPS) that canmeasure a position of a light spot in one or two-dimensions on a sensorsurface.

In implementations, such as that of FIGS. 6B, and 19A-B, at least one ofthe two or more sensors 6128, 6128 a-d, 6040, 6040 a, 6040 b is a 2-Dcamera configured to output a 2-D image to the controller 6005 and thedata associated with repositioned deformable laundry article 10 is sizeinvariant image data. In implementations, such as that of FIGS. 3B, and7A-B, the two or more sensors 6128, 6128 a-d, 6040, 6040 a, 6040 b areconfigured to output a 3-D image to the controller 6005 and thecontroller is further configured to determine a pose of the deformablelaundry article 10 based on the 3-D image. The pose of the deformablelaundry article 10 can be relative to at least of a coordinate space ofthe work volume 6035, which has a fixed coordinate space relative to thetwo or more sensors 6128, 6128 a-d, 6040, 6040 a, 6040 b, and a positionand orientation of the conveyor 6030 disposed at the bottom of the workvolume 6035. In implementations, the two or more sensors 6040 a, 6040 bare configured to provide two or more 2-D images to the controller 6005and the controller 6005 is further configured to determine a pose of thedeformable laundry article 10 within the work volume 6035, which has afixed coordinate space relative to the two or more sensors 6128, 6128a-d, 6040, 6040 a, 6040 b. As described previously with regard to FIGS.7A-E, in implementations at least one of the two or more sensors 6128,6128 a-d, 6040 a, 6040 b is mounted to a base 6102, 6102 a-d of one ormore of the lifters 6100 a-d beneath the arm 6110 and aimed upward at anangle 6043 from horizontal above a surface of the conveyor with a widefield of view 6044. Additionally or alternatively, in implementations,one or more of the two or more sensors 6040 a, 6040 b can be at leastone of anchored above the conveyor and attached to one or more of aceiling and a support structure disposed about the work volume 6035without interfering with the motion of the two or more lifters 6100 a-d.In implementations the two or more sensors 6128, 6128 a-d, 6040, 6040 a,6040 b are 3-D point cloud sensors, such as the REALSENSE depth camera,positioned at about the height of the conveyor 6030 such that the fieldof view of each camera is aimed at the work volume 6035.

As shown in FIGS. 19A-B, in implementation, the two or more sensors6040, 6040 a, 6040 b can be positioned such that each camera comprises afield of view 6042 comprising a vertical angle λ ranging between about35 and 90 degrees and a horizontal angle φ of between about 50 and 90degrees. The field of view 6042 is configured to detect the work volume6035 at the surface of conveyor 6030. In implementations, the field ofview 6042 comprises the entire height of the work volume such that asensor is configured to detect whether a hoisted gripper is engaged witha suspended article 10 or missed a grab. As shown in FIGS. 6B and 19A-B,the field of view 6042, 6042 a, 6042 b extends at least to a center ofthe work volume 6035 and projects across between about 80 to 90 percentof a work area 6032 comprising the portion of the conveyor 6030 thatintersects with the work volume 6035. In implementations, as shown inFIG. 6B, the two or more sensors 6040 a, 6040 b comprise overlappingfields of view 6042 a, 6042 b. The overlapping fields of view 6042 a,6042 b ensure that between about 80 to 100 percent of the work volume6035 is sensed at any point in time. The controller 6005 of therepositioning robot 6000, therefore, can identify the presence of adeformable laundry article 10 within the work volume 6035 and can detectone or more grip points 15 a-c on the deformable article 10 suspendedabove the conveyor. Because the locations of the stationary two or moresensors 6040 a, 6040 b are fixed relative to the anchored locations ofthe two or more lifters 6100 a-d and calibrated to the location of eachof the grippers 6105 a-d of the two or more lifters 6100 d, and thecontroller 6005 can path plan the motion of each of the two or morelifters 6100 a-d to engage with a gripper 6105 a-d with the one or moregrip points 15 a-c detected in coordinate space within the work volume6035.

Additionally or alternatively, as previously described, the two or moresensors 6128 a-d can be collocated with associated bases 6102 a-d ofeach of the two or more lifters 6100 a-d and each sensor can be angledupward such that each camera comprises a field of view 6044 comprising avertical angle ranging between about 35 and 90 degrees and a horizontalangle of between about 50 and 90 degrees. The field of view 6044 extendsat least to a center of the work volume 6035 and projects across betweenabout 80 to 90 percent of a work area 6032 comprising the portion of theconveyor 6030 intersecting with the work volume. The two or more sensors6128 a-d comprise overlapping fields of view 6044 a-d. The overlappingfields of view 6044 a-d ensure that between about 80 to 100 percent ofthe work volume 6035 is sensed at any point in time. The controller 6005of the repositioning robot 6000, therefore, can identify the presence ofa deformable laundry article 10 within the work volume 6035 and candetect one or more grip points 15 a-c on the deformable article 10suspended above the conveyor. Because the locations of the stationarytwo or more sensors 6128 a-d are collocated with the two or more lifters6100 a-d and calibrated to the location of each of the grippers 6105 a-dof the two or more lifters 6100 d, and the controller 6005 can path planthe motion of each gripper 6105 a-d of the two or more lifters 6100 a-dto engage with the one or more grip points 15 a-c detected in coordinatespace within the work volume 6035.

In implementations, path planning (e.g., motion planning) comprises acalculating the tilt, pan, and extend motions needed to place thegripper 6105 a-d in a given position and orientation relative to thelocation of stationary sensor 6128 a-d such that the gripper 6105 a-dengages with a selected one of the one or more grip points 15 a-c. Inimplementations the motion planning comprises inverse kinematicscomputations based on the known locations of the one or more stationarysensors 6128 a-d and the calibrated pan, tilt, and extend motions ofeach of the arms 6110 relative to their associated sensors 6128 a-d. Inimplementations, the controller 6105 receiving output signals from theone or more sensors 6128 a-d (e.g., cameras) is configured to calculatethe location coordinates of an object, such as one or more of thegripper arms 6110 and terminal grippers 6105 a-d and the deformablelaundry article 10, in the work volume 6035. The location coordinatesenable the controller 6105 to instruct the one or more motor drives (pandrive, tilt drive, extend drive) to move at least one of the gripperarms 6110 a-d to a desired pose within the work volume 6035 for grippingthe article 10 with the gripper 6105. In implementations, each of thecameras 6128 a-d affixed to the base 6102 of a lifter 6100 is calibratedto the arm 6110 of that lifter and to the work volume 6035, and thecontroller 6105 is configured to calculate a position to which thegripper 6105 will move to engage a grip point 15 of the deformablelaundry article 10.

In implementations, the controller 6005 is configured to determine,based on a comparison of a received output signal of the at least onesensor to data stored in a memory in communication with the controller,at least one of an article type, an article size, and an article fabric.Additionally or alternatively, in implementations, the controller 6005is configured to determine, based on a comparison of a received outputsignal of the at least one sensor to data stored in a memory incommunication with the controller, that the deformable laundry articleis repositioned and ready for folding, In implementations, at least onesensor is a 2-D camera, and the data associated with the deformablelaundry article is size invariant image data comparable with databaseimages of tagged articles and/or classes of articles.

In implementations, the memory 6010 comprises a neural network 300, anddetermining the one or more characteristics of each one of the pluralityof deformable articles comprises processing the received output signalof the at least one sensor with a neural network classifier. Inimplementations, as shown in FIG. 29 , the neural network 300 comprisesa trained neural network, for example a convolutional neural networkthat operates quickly on 3D and/or 2D data and is configured to classifyimages from one or more 3D and/or 2D cameras. In an implementation, theclassification comprises generating a descriptor based on the outputsignal of the two or more sensors 6128 a-d, 6040 a-b and classifying,using the neural network, the output signal based on the descriptor. Theneural network is configured to output a probability that the outputsignal corresponds to a class of the stored data indicative of one ormore deformable article types in a repositioned state acceptable forfolding, for example. The classes of trained data in the neural networkinclude data associated with many types of deformable articles. Forexample, as shown in FIG. 29 , a neural network 300 can be trained witha set of training data 305. After training, the neural network 300comprises a set of weights that can be used for neural network inferenceto determine whether an input 330 (e.g., output signal from the one ofthe two or more sensors 6128 a-d, 6040 a) is within one of the trainedclasses.

For example, size is a particularly important characteristic of adeformable article because a large item (e.g., a bed sheet, comforter,tablecloth, large bathrobe, etc.) can require particular processingsteps within the work volume 6035 of the repositioning robot 6000. Theneural network, therefore can be used to determine whether a deformablearticle in the work volume 6035 is of a large garment class (e.g, adeformable laundry article having an area that is greater than athreshold size and/or a longest possible length while suspended from asingle lifter in range of between about 190 cm to 300 cm), a mediumclass (e.g., a deformable laundry article having an area that is withina predetermined range, e.g. a longest possible length while suspendedfrom a single lifter in range of between about 30 cm to 190 cm), or asmall class (e.g., a deformable laundry article having an area that isless than a threshold size, e.g., and/or a longest possible length whilesuspended from a single lifter in range of between about 3 cm to 30 cm).It should be understood that any suitable number of size classes orranges may be identified.

In implementations, the neural network is configured to output aprobability that the output signal of the two or more sensors 6128 a-d,6040 a-b corresponds to a class of the stored data indicative of one ormore repositioned deformable laundry articles. The classes of traineddata in the neural network include data associated with many types ofdeformable laundry articles that are repositioned and ready for folding.That is, the neural network informs the controller 6005 of a probabilitythat the deformable laundry article 10 is ready for folding.

The data indicative of being repositioned and ready for folding need notbe indicative of deformable laundry articles being perfectly flat. Forexample, one or more edges of the repositioned article can be foldedover or incorrectly positioned, such as a sweatshirt hood draping infront of the torso portion, a corner of a towel draping downward betweenengaged grippers, or a sleeve being stuck inside the torso portion of ashirt. Nonetheless these articles can be considered sufficientlyrepositioned so as to be ready for folding. A threshold for beingrepositioned and ready for folding can require only a substantialportion of the deformable laundry article 10 be planar, for example50-100 percent of the article 10. One or more configurations of eachtype of repositioned article can be trained and classified within theneural network so that various confidence levels are considered withregard to determining that the deformable laundry article 10 issufficiently unfolded and spread out, e.g., repositioned and ready forfolding. In implementations, the controller 6005 of the repositioningrobot 6000 is configured to determine whether the descriptor assigned tothe repositioned deformable laundry 10 article meets or exceeds athreshold probability indicative of an unfolded state. The controllercan be further configured to decrease the threshold probability fordetermining a match between the repositioned deformable laundry articleand the data after at least one of a period of time and a number ofgrips by grippers 6105 a-d associated with the two or more lifters 6100a-d. As described in additional detail herein, the number of grips isthe number of times that one of the grippers 6105 a-d grasps andoptionally moves a portion of the deformable laundry article in arepositioning operation. For example, one or more of the grippers 6105a-d can grip the laundry article at spaced-apart positions and lift thelaundry article to a suspension height. Another one of the grippers 6105a-d can grip the laundry article at another spaced-apart position tofurther reposition the laundry article and optionally lift anotherportion of the laundry article at or below the suspension height, and insome implementations, some of the grippers 6105 a-d can release thelaundry article and grip the laundry article at another location.

In implementations, the period of time for decreasing the confidencethreshold is between about 1 minute and 3 minutes. In implementations,the number of grips for decreasing the confidence threshold is betweenabout 5 and 15. In implementations, the probability for determining amatch drops below a threshold indicative of a time or termination in thenumber of grips. In such an instance, the controller can be configuredto instruct the one or more grippers 6105 a-d engaged with thedeformable laundry article 10 to release the article and begin thelifting and repositioning process anew. Additionally or alternatively,the controller can be configured to instruct at least one of the engagedone or more lifters 6100 a-d and the conveyor 6030 to transfer thedeformable laundry article 10 to at least one of the folding robot 7000and the packing robot 8000 for return to the customer withoutrepositioning.

Referring now to FIGS. 20A-B, As described previously, once thedeformable laundry article 10 is repositioned, the controller instructsthe one lifter 6100 a and the another lifter 6100 d of the two or morelifters 6100 a-d to lower the repositioned deformable laundry article 10onto the conveyor 6030. In one implementation, such as that of FIG. 20A,the controller 6005 is configured to instruct the one lifter 6100 a andthe another lifter 6100 d to lower (in the direction of the arrow L1)the repositioned deformable laundry article 10 on to the conveyor 6030at a rate of movement of the conveyor 6030 in a direction of travel, orrun direction, R. Additionally or alternatively, as shown in FIG. 20B,the controller 6005 is configured to instruct the one lifter 6100 a andthe another lifter 6100 d to lower (in the direction of the arrow L2)along a non-vertical slope such that the deformable article 10 is sweptdown onto the conveyor 6030 in its repositioned state whether or not theconveyor 6030 is in motion. Additionally or alternatively, thecontroller is configured to instruct the one lifter 6100 a and theanother lifter 6100 to lower the article 10 along a non-vertical slopeat a rate equal to or less than the rate of movement of the conveyor6030. Lowering the article 10 at a rate less than the rate of movementof the conveyor 6030 enables the conveyor 6030 to assist with furtherspreading or stretching the article 10 to a repositioned state forfolding. For example, sweeping an article 10 back along a non-verticalslope at a rate slower than the rate at which conveyor 6030 is rotatingcan assist with the conveyor 6030 pulling any wrinkles straight as thearticle 10 is disposed on the conveyor 6030.

As described previously, in implementations, the controller 6005 can beconfigured to determine, based on the output signal of each of the twoor more sensors 6040 a, 6040 b, a pose of the deformable laundry article10 suspended within the work volume 6035 relative to at least the two ormore fixed locations of the two or more sensors 6128, 6128 a-d, 6040,6040 a, 6040 b The controller 6005 can determine, based on the outputsignal of each of the two or more sensors 6128, 6128 a-d, 6040, 6040 a,6040 b, a longest dimension of the repositioned deformable laundryarticle 10 and instruct the engaged one lifter 6100 a and the anotherlifter 6100 d to sweep the article onto the conveyor such that thelongest dimension of the repositioned deformable laundry articleparallel to a transfer direction of the conveyor. Additionally oralternatively, the conveyor 6030 can comprise at least one drive motorand a rotatable support in communication with the controller 6005 andconfigured to align the run direction R of the conveyor parallel to thelongest dimension of the repositioned deformable laundry article 10. Inimplementations, such as those of FIGS. 21A and 21B, the conveyor 6030is supported by one or more legs 6032 a-d, each of the one or more legscomprising a wheel 6034 a-d, e.g., a caster wheel, configured to rotatesuch that the conveyor 6030 spins about a vertical axis L_(Z). Inimplementations a wheel of the one or more legs can be engaged with arail (not shown) configured to constrain and direct the rotationalmotion of the conveyor 6030.

Returning to FIG. 18B, in implementations, the controller 6005 isconfigured to determine an orientation of a shared axis “AS” extendingbetween the engaged grippers 6105 a, 6105 d of the one lifter 6100 a andthe another lifter 6100 d of the two or more lifters 6100 a-d relativeto a run direction R of the conveyor 6003. The controller is furtherconfigured to instruct at least one of the one lifter 6100 a and theanother lifter 6100 d of the two or more lifters 6100 a-d engaged withthe deformable laundry article 10 to rotate the shared axis “AS”perpendicular to the run direction R of the conveyor 6030 prior toinstructing the one of the one lifter 6100 a and the another lifter 6100d of the two or more lifters 6100 a-d to lower the repositioneddeformable laundry article 10 onto the conveyor 6030.

As described previously, the conveyor 6030 operates in a run directionR. In implementations, the run direction is reversible such that therepositioned deformable laundry article 10 can be conveyed out of thework volume 6035 in either of two opposite directions. In allimplementations, the conveyor 6030 is configured to transfer therepositioned one of the plurality of deformable laundry articles to afolding robot 7000 in series with the repositioning robot 6000. In anyof the above described implementations of rotating and lowering therepositioned deformable laundry article 10, the controller 6005 can beconfigured to determine, based on a comparison of the received outputsignal to the data, at least one of a back side and a front side of therepositioned deformable laundry article 10 if the article is of a typehaving a front side and a back side, such as a bodily worn garment. Inone implementation, the controller can instruct at least one of the onelifter 6100 a and the another lifter 6100 d of the two or more lifters6100 a-d engaged with the deformable laundry article 10 to rotate theshared axis AS perpendicular to a run direction R of the conveyor 6030prior to lowering the repositioned deformable laundry 10 article ontothe conveyor 6030 such that the back side of the repositioned deformablelaundry article 10 is configured to contact the conveyor 6030. In otherimplementations, the controller can instruct at least one of the onelifter 6100 a and the another lifter 6100 d to rotate the shared axis Assuch that the front side of the repositioned deformable laundry article10 is configured to contact the conveyor 6030. By orienting one of theback side of the deformable laundry article 10 either onto or facingaway from a surface of the conveyor 6030, the repositioning robot 6000can transfer the deformable laundry article 10 to a folding robot 7000configured to fold the deformable laundry article based on the presetorientation. In some implementations, a deformable laundry article 10can be easier to fold when introduced to the folding robot 7000 face up,with its back side resting on the conveyor 6030, and in otherimplementations, a deformable laundry article 10 can be easier to foldwhen introduced to the folding robot 7000 face down. The controller 6005can be configured to determine an article type of the deformable laundryarticle 10 and determine a preferred resting orientation for transferbased on data retrieved from the memory 6010.

As described previously with regard to implementations, a deformablearticle 10 is delivered to the folding device 7000 by a repositioningrobot 6000. In implementations, the repositioning robot 6000 directlydeposits the deformable article onto the rotatable platform 7100 of thefolding device. In other implementations, as shown in FIGS. 22-26 , atransfer conveyor 6070 transits between the repositioning robot 6000 andthe folding device 7000 to transfer a repositioned article 10 onto therotatable platform 7100 for folding.

Referring to FIG. 27 , a leading edge 6031 portion of a conveyor 6030 isshown in conjunction with a transfer conveyor 6070 configured to bedisposed outside the work volume 6035. In implementations, the conveyor6030 can have an angled leading edge 6031 configured to nest with anangled receiving end 6071 of the transfer conveyor 6070 configured tomove back and forth on rails, as shown in FIGS. 23-27 , between therepositioning robot 6000 and the folding robot 7000. In implementations,the angled receiving end 6071 of the transfer conveyor is flatter (e.g.,shallowly sloped) than the more angled leading edge 6031 of the floorconveyor 6030. The transfer conveyor is configured to deposit therepositioned deformable laundry article 10 received by the conveyor 6030onto a receiving surface of the folding robot 7000. The angled leadingedge 6031 of the conveyor 6030 at the bottom of the work volume 6035 andthe angled receiving end 6071 of the transfer conveyor 6070 areconfigured to nest, thereby preventing transferred repositioned laundryarticles from crumpling or getting stuck between the two overlappedmoving conveyors 6030, 6070. The matching angles of the leading edge 603land the receiving end 6071 and the matching driving directions (e.g.run direction R) ensures that no part of a transferring article fallsbetween the floor conveyor 6030 and the transfer conveyor 6070.Additionally, a flatter angle of the receiving end 6071 of the transferconveyor 6070 prevents the transferring article from crumpling duringtransfer. In implementations, a gap G between the conveyor 6030 and thetransfer conveyor 6070 is no greater than 10 mm. In implementations, thegap G is between about 5 mm to 10 mm.

As previously described with regard to FIG. 5 , in implementations, theconveyor drive 6210 is configured to operate a motor, such as forexample, a lightweight, high power controllable motor (e.g., a brushlessDC motor (BLDC), and the motor encoder comprises a speed encoder so thatat least one of the processor 6205 and the controller 6005 cansynchronize speed of the belt of the floor conveyor 6030 with acirculating belt of the placer conveyor 6070. By timing the transferconveyor 6070 rotational speed with that of the conveyor 6030, during ahand off of a repositioned article from one surface to the other, thearticle remains repositioned and does not crumple or get pinched betweenthe overlapped angled leading edge 6031 and angled receiving end 6071.In this way the conveyor 6030 and transfer conveyor 6070 effectivelyform a continuous surface moving at matched speeds such that therepositioned article can be delivered to the folding robot 7000 in therepositioned configuration for folding. In implementations, the floorconveyor 6030 and transfer conveyor 6070 rotate at a matched speed for apredetermined period of time to ensure the article is fully transferredonto the transfer conveyor 6070. In implementations, the predeterminedperiod of time can be one of a plurality of predetermined periods oftime identified by the controller 6205 as being associated with adetected size of the article being transferred. Additionally oralternatively, in implementations, at least one of the processor 6205and the controller 6005 receives an output signal from one or moresensors (e.g., cameras 6040 a-b, 6128 a-d) indicative of the articlebeing transferred out of the workspace volume 6035.

As shown in FIGS. 22-27 , the transfer conveyor is configured to moveback and forth between the repositioning robot 6000 and the foldingrobot 7000. The transfer conveyor 6070 is configured to deposit therepositioned deformable laundry article 10 received by the transferconveyor 6030 onto a receiving surface 7100 of the folding robot 7000.In implementations, the depositing end 6073 of the transfer conveyor6070 comprises a shallowly angled downward slope and a “knife edge” fordelivering the repositioned article 10 onto the receiving surface 7100.In implementations, the “knife edge” depositing end 6073 comprises aroller having a diameter in a range of between about 5 mm to 20 mm indiameter. implementation, the “knife edge” depositing end 6073 comprisesa roller having a diameter of approximately 15 mm in diameter. Thedepositing end 6072 slides over the surface 7105 of the receivingsurface 7100 and comprises a clearance in a range of between about 0.25mm to 5 mm. In implementations, the depositing end 6072 of the conveyor6070 can extend past the middle of the receiving surface 7100 and ensurethat larger repositioned items are fully deposited on the receivingsurface 7100 and not hanging off an edge.

In implementations, such as those depicted in FIGS. 23, 25, and 26 , thetransfer conveyor 6070 is configured to move back and forth on wheelsdisposed on tracks 6072 a-b. The tracks 6072 a-b receive thereon wheelsof the transfer conveyor 6070 and the tracks 6072 a-b extend beyond acenter axis (diameter) of the receiving surface 7100. Inimplementations, the rails follow a straight path. Additionally oralternatively, the rails curve away from the repositioning robot 6000 toaccommodate a layout of the process line 100. In implementations, thewheels of the transfer conveyor 6070 are rotated by a drive motor inoperable communication with one or both of the repositioning robotcontroller 6005 and the folding device controller 7005. Additionally oralternatively, the wheels are free-rotating, and the transfer conveyor6070 comprises a drive chain therebeneath for transiting the conveyor6070 between the repositioning robot 6000 and the folding robot 7000.

In implementations, such as those depicted in FIGS. 22, 24A-B, thetransfer conveyor 6070 is configured to ride on caster wheels (notshown) resting on a floor beneath the conveyor 6070, and the conveyor6070 transits between the repositioning robot 6000 and folding robot7000 by a drive chain 6077′ and sprockets 6080′. As depicted in theunderside view of FIG. 24B, in implementations, the transfer conveyor6070 comprises one or more spring loaded guide blocks 6078′, 6079′configured to engage with a guide rail 6072′. The one or more springloaded guide blocks 6078′, 6079′ each comprise at least two camfollowers 6081 a′,b′, 6082 a′-c′ for riding along the guide rail. Thedrive block 6079′ further comprises one or more idler sprockets tangentto the at least two cam followers 6082 a′-b′ and a drive sprocketconfigured to engage the drive chain 6077′. In implementations, asdepicted in FIG. 22 , a flexible and/or retractable cable 6077′ isconfigured to engage a control panel of the conveyor 6070 fortransferring power to the conveyor 6070.

In other implementations, the controller 6005 can be configured toinstruct the one lifter 6105 a and the another lifter 6105 d of the twoor more lifters having associated engaged grippers 6105 a,d to sweep therepositioned one of the plurality of deformable laundry articles 10 ontoa surface outside the work volume. The surface can be, for example, atransfer conveyor 6070 or a surface of the folding robot 7000. In otherimplementations, the conveyor 6030 can be replaced by a tilting surfaceconfigured to receive thereon a repositioned deformable laundry articleand tilt to release the article 10 under the force of gravity ontoanother surface such as the transfer conveyor 6070 or a surface of thefolding robot 7000. In other implementations, the conveyor 6030 can bepositioned higher than a stationary transfer conveyor partially stackedtherebeneath in a waterfall configuration.

In the preceding implementations, the transfer conveyor 6070 transitsbetween the stationary conveyor floor 6030 and the folding robot 7000,and is configured to occupy a neutral position, away from movingcomponents of the repositioning robot 6000 and folding robot 7000 so asnot to interfere with any motion of moving parts, for example, themovable arms 6110 of the lifter which pan, tilt, and extend into spaceoutside of the workspace. Having the transfer conveyor 6070 be separatefrom the conveyor floor 6030 of the repositioning robot 6000 enables thetransfer conveyor 6070 to deliver a repositioned article to the foldingrobot 7000 while the repositioning robot 6000 is repositioning a nextarticle in a load of laundry. Alternatively, in implementations, theconveyor floor 6030 can be the transfer conveyor such that therepositioning robot 6000 repositions an article on the transfer conveyor6070 at the bottom of the work volume 6035, and the transfer conveyorthen exits the work volume and transits to the folding table to delivera repositioned article.

Regardless of the devices and method of transferring the repositionedlaundry article 10 from the work volume 6035, raising, repositioning,and lowering the deformable laundry article 10 relies on an outputsignal from each of the one or more sensors. As previously described,the one or more sensors of the two or more sensors 6128, 6128 a-d, 6040,6040 a, 6040 b can include imaging in sensors. Additionally oralternatively, the one or more sensors can include sensors 6350 disposedon or in one or more portions of the grippers 6105, 6105 a-d. Inimplementations, the one or more sensors 6350 can include a fingertorque and position sensor disposed on the gripper 6105 to sense whenthe fingers 6107 a-b have closed. This allows the repositioning robot6000 to operate quickly because the closed sensor can signal moving ontothe next step. Additionally or alternatively, a force/torque sensor canbe disposed on a wrist of a gripper 6105 to determine if the gripper hascollided with anything, is pulling too hard on a deformable laundryarticle 10, or is tangled in the deformable laundry article 10. Thissensor 6350 assists with pinching the fingers 6107 a-b to grasp clothesoff of a surface (e.g., the conveyor) by determining when contact ismade with the surface. Additionally, a force/torque sensor can output asignal to the processor 6015 for estimating a weight of a deformablelaundry article 10. Additionally or alternatively, one or moreforce/torque sensors can be disposed at a tilt axis driven by the armtilt motor 6120 a-d. In implementations, a torque sensor can be disposedon or in a motor for the gripper 6105. Additionally or alternatively, inimplementations, strain gauges can be disposed in the bases of thefingers 6107 a-b (not fingertips). Additionally or alternatively, inimplementations, a tension sensor can be disposed in-line with thecable. In all implementations, a torque sensor could provide an outputsignal for determining whether or not the fingers 6107 a-b are engagedwith a deformable laundry article 10. In other implementations,engagement can be detected by force/pressure sensors (not shown)disposed on the fingertips of the two or more fingers 6107 a-b. Theforce/pressure sensor(s) can be one of the gripper sensor(s) 6360configured to communicate a sensor signal to the controller 6005, asshown in FIG. 5 .

Implementations of the fingers 6107 a-b can include finger displacementsensors to partially close to make a selective grasp in a pile orcarefully slide against the ground. Finger displacement sensors, such ascapacitive sensors, could be used to estimate the thickness of adeformable laundry article 10. Implementations of the fingers 6107 a-bcan include tactile sensors configured to measure clothing roughnessand/or hardness.

In implementations, having one or more sensors 6350 disposed in thegrippers 6105 a-b can assist with raising and repositioning thedeformable laundry article 10. In implementations, the suspension heightto which a deformable laundry article 10 is raised is predeterminedregardless of size or type of article. In other implementations, one ormore of the sensors described with regard to the grippers 6105 a-b canbe incorporated for informing the controller 6005 that a deformablelaundry article 10 is suspended. For example, one or more weight sensorscan be disposed on at least one of the two or more lifters 6100 a-dand/or associated grippers 6105 a-d. The one or more weight sensors canbe in operative communication with the controller for outputting asignal indicative of a detected force impacted by the weight of adeformable laundry article 10 engaged by one or more grippers 6105 a-b.The one or more weight sensors can be configured to continuously detecta rate of change as the deformable laundry article 10 is raised by atleast one of the two or more lifters 6100 d. Additionally oralternatively the one or more weight sensors can be a pressure sensordisposed on or in the conveyor 6030 for detecting the presence, absence,or removal and reception of a deformable laundry article 10 thereon. Inimplementations, the controller 6005 can determine whether a deformablelaundry article 10 is raised to a suspension height SH (e.g., a heightat which the entire deformable laundry article is suspended above asurface such as the conveyor 6030) when the one or more weight sensorsoutput an unchanging measured weight (e.g., a measured weight notvarying within a tolerance of the one or more weight sensors) and/orforce of the suspended deformable laundry article. Additionally oralternatively, the controller 6005 can determine that a deformablelaundry article 10 is suspended above the conveyor 6030 by analyzing thereceived output signal of a volumetric point cloud sensor of the two ormore sensors 6040 a-b to determine a lowest edge of the deformablelaundry article 10 is no longer in contact with the conveyor 6030.Additionally or alternatively, the controller 6005 can raise thesuspended deformable laundry article to a pre-set, maximum suspensionheight (e.g., approximately 3 m) configured to suspend most householdlaundry articles in a range of 4 cm to 500 mm in a longest dimension(e.g., peripheral dimension, diagonal dimension (corner to corner),longest length portion, etc.).

In implementations, as previously described with regard to FIGS. 1-5 ,one or more controllers or processors of the repositioning robot 6000and folding table 7000 are in wired or wireless communication via acommunication network 210. The repositioning robot 6000 can provide dataoutput but one or more sensors to the repositioning robot 7000 to enablethe repositioning robot 7000 to determine how to fold the article 10.For example, the repositioning robot 6000 can provide data to thefolding table associated with at least one article characteristiccomprising at least one of article size, weight, thickness, and type(e.g., a pair of pants, an open front shirt, a dress, etc.). The foldingtable 7000 can then determine where to fold the article 10 to achieveone or more desired final folded sizes and/or aspect ratios. The one ormore desired final folded sizes and/or aspect ratios can be concurrentlydetermined or can be one of a plurality of present sizes and aspectratios for an intelligent packing scheme.

Additionally or alternatively, in implementations the folding robot 7000can instruct the transfer conveyor 6070 to retrieve an article 10 fortransit back to the repositioning robot 6000 if the folding robotdetermines that the article 10 cannot be folded to one or more desiredfinal folded sizes and/or aspect ratios either because the article isnot fully repositioned or because the article is too small forrepositioning. The transfer conveyor 6070 can place the depositing end6073 against the article 10 on the folding table and run the belt inreverse, toward the repositioning robot 6000 while transiting on therails 6072 a-b to the conveyor 6030, also running in reverse to receivethe article 10 thereon again. Additionally or alternatively, inimplementations, once the transfer conveyor 6070 is positioned over thefolding robot 7000, the folding robot 7000 can instruct the transferconveyor 6070, prior to depositing an article, to return the article 10for transit back to the repositioning robot 6000 if the folding robotdetermines that the article 10 cannot be folded to one or more desiredfinal folded sizes and/or aspect ratios either because the article isnot fully repositioned or because the article is too small forrepositioning. Additionally or alternatively, in implementations, thefolding robot 7000 can instruct another conveyor of the packing robot8000 to retrieve an article 10 for depositing onto another conveyorand/or directly transiting back to the separating robot 3000 if thefolding robot determines based on at least one of one or more receivedsensor signals and attempted folding maneuvers that the article 10cannot be folded to one or more desired final folded sizes and/or aspectratios, for example because the article is not fully repositioned.

Additionally, in implementations, the repositioning robot 6000 can passarticles 10 that are too small for folding to a transit conveyor fordelivery to a packing robot 8000 without folding. The repositioningrobot 6000 can try to reposition the article 10 for passing back to thefolding robot 7000 again. In implementations, the repositioning robot6000 can pass articles to the transit conveyor for delivery to thepacking robot 8000 without folding after a threshold number ofrepositioning retries (e.g., 1-3 retries) so that the repositioningrobot 6000 can further process remaining deformable articles in a loadof laundry for folding without losing more than 3-10 minutes of timeretrying repositioning of a single article. Alternatively, therepositioning robot 6000 can pass articles to the transit conveyor 6070for delivery to the folding robot 7000 without folding after a thresholdnumber of repositioning retries (e.g., 1-3 retries) so that the foldingtable can fold the insufficiently repositioned article 10 to a closestdesired size and aspect ratio. For example, if the article 10 is a pairof pants with one leg inside out, the folding robot 7000 can fold thenon-flat pair of pants despite the imperfect positioning.

Referring now to FIG. 28 , any of the implementations describedpreviously with regard to a repositioning robot 6000 are applicable toimplementations described herein with regard to a method 1100 ofrobotically repositioning a laundry article (e.g., also referred toherein as a deformable laundry article 10 for folding.

In implementations, the method 1100 can include, receiving S1105, at acontroller, such as the controller 6005 of the repositioning robot 6000,one or more output signals from two or more sensors configured to atleast one of detect one of one or more features and capture one or moreimages of the laundry article. The controller is configured to determineS1110, based on the received one or more output signals, whether thedeformable laundry article is suspended above a workspace floor (e.g.,conveyor 6030) from a suspension height by a first gripper of three ormore movable grippers in operative communication with the controller,the three or more moveable grippers being anchored aside (e.g.,proximate and adjacent) the conveyor. The controller is configured todetect S1115, based on the received one or more output signals, a grippoint disposed on the deformable laundry article below the suspensionheight, identify 1120 an available gripper, e.g., a second moveablegripper of the three or more movable grippers, for engaging the grippoint, and instruct 1125 the second one of the three or more movablegrippers to engage the grip point of the suspended laundry articles andlift 1130 the grip point to the suspension height. In implementations,the controller is further configured to select one of the three or moregrippers closest to the grip point prior to instructing the second ofthe three or more grippers to engage the grip point. Additionally oralternatively, in implementations, the controller can be configured toinstruct an engaged one of the three or more grippers to at least one oftranslate (e.g., in the x-axis and/or y-axis) and rotate (e.g, about thez-axis L_(Z)) the laundry article 10 for alignment of the shared gripperaxis with either the x or y axis of the work volume in preparate forgripping of a new low point by available another of the three or moregrippers.

In implementations, the controller 6005 is configured to select thesecond moveable gripper to grip the identified grip point based on amovement direction. For example, in implementations, the controllerexecutes an algorithm comprising a hard coded direction (e.g., CCW, CW)for selecting a next available gripper and also for selecting adirection of rotation of the shared gripping axis AS, as will bedescribed subsequently with regard to implementations. Additionally oralternatively, in implementations, the controller 6005 is configured todetermine the second grip point (e.g., the grip point immediatelyfollowing an initial hoist within the work volume) by analyzing thesensor output and determining a low point of the suspended laundryarticle 10. The controller then determines whether the low point is tothe right or left of an axis extending between the base of the armassociated with the first gripper and the suspension point where thefirst gripper is engaged with the laundry article. If the low point isto the right of the axis, the controller instructs an available armclosest to the low point on the right to grip the low point and raisethe suspended laundry article counterclockwise (CCW). If the low pointis to the left of the axis, the controller instructs a available armclosest to the low point to the left configured to grip the low pointand raise the suspended laundry article clockwise (CW). Subsequentgrippers 6105 can grip the article 10 in the hard coded (e.g.,predetermined) direction, or, alternatively, the direction of the secondgrip can determine the direction of all subsequent grips (e.g. the nextarm 6110 and gripper 6105 in either of the CCW or CW direction thatgrips the next low point).

Additionally or alternatively, in implementations, with a first andsecond tipper engaged along a shared axis AS, the controller 6005 isconfigured to instruct a longest engaged one of the two engaged grippersalong the shared gripper axis AS to translate parallel to one of anx-axis L_(HX) and a y-axis L_(HY) of the conveyor such that a low pointof the article is disposed within reach of an available, unengagedgripper. As will be described with regard to FIG. 35 , the shared axisAS between the two engaged grippers will be rotated parallel to eitherthe x-axis Lx or the y-axis Ly. The direction of rotation of the longestengaged gripper can be hard coded (e.g., predetermined) so that eachsubsequent rotation of a shared axis AS aligns the newly formed sharedaxis AS parallel with an alternating one of the x-axis Lx and Ly axisand moves in the hard coded direction of next available gripperselection such that the sequentially formed shared axes rotate around ax-axis L_(Z) of the work volume in the hard coded direction.

Additionally, in implementations an initial hoist of an article within awork volume comprises moving the gripper of the initially engaged lifter6100 a-d to a center of the work area 6032 defined as the projection ofthe work volume 6035 on the floor 6030 of the repositioning robot. Forexample, for the circular work area 6032 of FIGS. 6A and 6B, the centerfalls at the intersection of two diameters of the work area 6032.

Returning to FIG. 28 , once the second moveable gripper engages andlifts the grip point to the suspension height such that the first andsecond grippers form a shared axis AS between them, the method 1100 canthe include comparing 1135 the output signal received from the one ormore sensors 6128 a-d, 6040 a-b to data stored in a memory incommunication with the controller, the data being indicative of one ormore repositioned laundry articles. The method includes determining1140, based on the comparison, whether the laundry article engaged withthe first and second grippers matches the data indicative of the one ormore repositioned laundry articles. As described above with regard toimplementations of the repositioning robot 6000, the controller 6005 canrely on a trained convolutional neural network that operates quickly onat least one of 2-D and 3-D data.

As previously described, in implementations, the memory 6010 comprises atrained neural network, for example a convolutional neural network,configured to classify images from at least one of a 2-D camera and a3-D point cloud sensor. For example, as previously described with regardto FIG. 29 , a neural network 300 can be trained with a set of trainingdata 305. For example, a plurality of photographs of known classes ofarticles can be manually tagged in a database with class identifiers.After training, the neural network 300 comprises a set of weights thatcan be used for neural network inference to determine whether an input330 (e.g., output signal from the two or more sensors 6040 a, 6040 b ofthe repositioning robot 6000) is within one of the trained classes.

The comparison of the output signal to the data indicative of one ormore repositioned deformable laundry articles comprises an analysisbased on the neural network. In an implementation, the comparisoncomprises generating a descriptor based on the output signal of the twoor more sensors 6040 a, 6040 b, and classifying, using the neuralnetwork, the output signal based on the descriptor. The neural networkis configured to output a probability that the output signal correspondsto a class of the stored data indicative of one or more repositioneddeformable laundry articles. The classes of trained data in the neuralnetwork comprises data associated with many types of deformable laundryarticles that are repositioned and ready for folding.

As shown in Table 3, in implementations, the classes of trained datacomprise various classed trained on at least one of 3D and 2D images forenabling controller 6005 to decide a next action for the repositioningrobot 6000:

TABLE 3 3D Classes 2D Classes Flat (e.g., repositioned for folding)Facing forward (e.g., open front shirt) Not flat Facing away (e.g., openfront shirt) One gripper missing (e.g., missed grasp) Garment on floor(e.g., conveyor 6030) Garment held by only one arm Flat but invertedOpen front shirt upright, facing away (e.g., away from camera) Openfront shirt upright, facing forward (e.g., facing camera) Open frontshirt sideways, facing away (e.g., away from camera) Open front shirtsideways, facing forward (e.g., facing camera) Shake out the hoistedgarment

Alternatively or additionally, one or more of the plurality of trainedclasses of table 4 cab be trained on either or both of 2D and 3D images.

As shown in Table 4, in implementations, for example, the next actionfor the repositioning robot 6000 comprises one of the following based onthe neural network classification of the article 10 in the repositioningrobot 6000:

TABLE 4 Options for Next Action Keep going Sweep repositioned articleonto floor conveyor Miss recovery Do shirt fold with sleeves gripped Doshirt fold with one sleeve and one front corner gripped Do a shakeInvert, then sweep flat

The actions of table 4 comprise a non-exhaustive list. For example,specific routines can be executed on the robot 6000 by the controller6005 for each of the open front shirt conditions, (e.g., Open frontshirt upright, facing away (e.g., away from camera), Open front shirtupright, facing forward (e.g., facing camera), Open front shirtsideways, facing away (e.g., away from camera), Open front shirtsideways, facing forward (e.g., facing camera)). Additionally oralternatively, the classes of Table 3 are also the actions of Table 4and the class descriptor of the trained classifier informs thecontroller of the next action rather than a particular state of anarticle or recognition of an article type. In implementations,controller receives a descriptor output from the trained classifier, thedescriptor being indicative of a next action by the repositioning robotand the next action being one of a plurality of trained classes. Thecontroller then instructs one or more motor drives associated with pan,tilt, and extend motors of each of the lifters of the three or morelifters to execute the received next action. In implementations, thenext action comprises at least one of executing an iterativerepositioning sequence for a not flat article, sweeping the repositionedflat article onto the floor, executing a recovery sequence for a missedgrab, inverting a flat but inverted article, executing a shirt fold withsleeves gripped, executing a shirt fold with one sleeve and one frontcorner gripped, retrieving an article on the floor, and executing ashake.

Returning to the method of claim 28, if the deformable laundry article10 is determined to be repositioned, the controller is configured toinstruct 1145 the first and second grippers of the three or more liftersto lay the laundry article 10 onto the conveyor 6030 and release thelaundry article. If the controller does not determine that the laundryarticle 10 is repositioned (e.g., the laundry article is “not flat” andnot ready for folding by the folding robot 7000), the method 1100further comprises detecting S1146 a free hanging grip point below thesuspension height, identifying S1147 another available gripper of thethree or more grippers 6105 a-b to grip the free hanging grip point,instructing S1148 the identified available gripper to grip the freehanging grip point, instructing S1149 the gripper engaged with theidentified free hanging grip point to raise the grip point to thesuspension height, instructing 1150 the longest engaged gripper torelease the laundry article.

As described previously, in implementations, the controller 6005 caninstruct one or more engaged grippers rotate the shared gripper axis ASto at least one of translate and rotate the suspended article before alow point grab by an available gripper. For example, the series ofsequential schematics of boxes G1-G3 of FIG. 35 depict a top downschematic view of the conveyor 6030 and work area 6032 of arepositioning robot 6000 comprising four lifters 6100 a-d disposed aboutthe conveyor 6030. In an initial grip, as shown in box G1, a firstlifter 6100 b hoisted the article 10 in the work volume, shown projectedon the conveyor 6030 as the work area 6032, and moved to the center ofthe work area 6032. Based on a pre-determined clockwise (CW) directionfor subsequent grips and axis rotation, gripper 6105 a of an availablelifter 6100 a gripped the article 10 and hoisted the article to thesuspension height of the first engaged gripper 6105 b. Inimplementations, the first lifter 6100 b may have rotated or translatedthe first engaged gripper 6105 to align the first shared axis AS1parallel to an x-axis L_(HX) of the coordinate space.

With the first shared axis AS1 aligned parallel to an x-axis L_(HX) ofthe coordinate space, an available gripper 6105 d in the CW directionaround the work area 6032 grabs (e.g., grips) a low point of the article10 and hoists the grabbed low point to the suspension height SH. Thelongest engaged gripper, e.g., the gripper 6105 b of the first lifter,then releases the article 10 and rotates along arrow A1′ to move out ofthe way of subsequent grabs and axis rotations. The longest engagedgripper 6105 a is engaged along a shared axis AS2 with the most recentlyengaged gripper 6105 d. The longest engaged gripper 6105 a rotates inthe direction of arrow A2 such that the shared axis AS2 becomes AS2′ ina new orientation parallel with the y-axis YHY of the work area 6032. Inimplementations, the rotation (clockwise, counterclockwise) will rotatethe shared axis to be parallel to either the x-axis of the work area6032 or the y-axis and the subsequent rotations will alternate betweenthe two. In implementations, the rotation of the shared axis is the sameas the predetermined direction of grabs (e.g., clockwise orcounterclockwise). In implementations, the rotation of the shared axisneed not be the same as the predetermined direction of grabs. Inimplementations, the controller 6005 will always rotate first engagedgripper by default in either the clockwise or counterclockwisedirection.

As depicted in box G2, with the shared axis A2′ oriented parallel to they-axis L_(HY), an available lifter in the clockwise direction 6100 cgrabs a low point of the article 10. As shown in box G3, the longestengaged lifter 6100 a releases the article and moves the gripper 6105 aaway from article 10 to avoid interfering with the other lifters and/orthe detection field of view of one or more sensors trained on the workvolume. The controller 6005 then instructs the longest engaged gripper6100 d to rotate along arrow a3′ such that the shared axis AS3 rotatesalong arrow a3. A repositioned shared axis AS4 is parallel with thex-axis L_(HX) of the work area 6032. At each rotation of a shared axis,the neural network will return a descriptor to the controller comprisinga next action such as those described previously with regard to table 4.Additionally or alternatively, the controller is configured to determinea next action based on receiving a class descriptor indicative of astatus of the article.

Additionally or alternatively, in implementations comprising a wristassembly 6170 that swivels and tilts at a hinge joint 6165, such as thatpreviously described with regard to implementations, each hoist to thesuspension height also comprises swiveling the gripper 6105 to ensure nopart of the article 10 is twisted over a finger of the gripper duringthe rotation of the shared axis. For example, in implementations, theshared axis AS grabs alternate between being rotated parallel to thex-axis L_(HX) and the y-axis L_(HY) as previously described. Inimplementations, for example, a first lifter 6110 a engages a gripperwith the article 10 and hoists the article. A second lifter 6100 bengages its gripper 6105 b, moves to the right to align the shared axisAS parallel to the y-axis L_(HY), thereby twisting the article 10 aroundthe left finger of the gripper 6105 b. A subsequent rotation can furthertwist the article around the left finger. With a wrist assembly 6170that swivels, the controller 6005 can instruct the swivel joint 6167 toswivel as the gripper 6105 b is raised to the suspension height,ensuring the article is never twisted over a finger of the gripper 6105b. Additionally, in implementations, the controller 6005 is configuredto select a direction of the swivel based on the rotational direction(CCW or CW) of the arm pan.

The method 1100 can further iteratively comprise performing thedetecting S1146, identifying S1147, instructing S1148-S1149, translatingand/or rotating, and disengaging S1150 steps until at least one ofdetermining 1140 a match of the output signal to the data indicative ofone or more repositioned laundry articles and reaching S1155 a thresholdtimeout. For example, the data indicative of one or more repositionedlaundry articles comprises data indicative of the laundry article beingsufficiently flat for successful folding to predetermined sizespecifications (e.g., a 10×12 inch rectangle, 5×6 inch, 10×6 inch,etc.). Being “sufficiently flat” can include an article comprising oneor more wrinkles, folded over edges, or inverted portions. Inimplementations, the method 1100 can comprise instructing the longestengaged gripper to release the laundry article as soon as the identifiedavailable third gripper engages the grip point. In otherimplementations, the method 1100 can comprise instructing the longestengaged gripper to release the laundry article after the identifiedavailable third gripper engages the grip point and lifts the engagedgrip point to the suspension height. In implementations, the controllercan be configured to determine a sequence of grips and releases based onat least one of article type and size.

The threshold timeout can be at least one of reaching or exceeding athreshold number of iterations without determining a match to the dataand reaching or exceeding a threshold time limit without determining amatch. In implementations, the threshold number of iterations comprisesa number of grips ranging between about 2 and 20. In implementations,the threshold time limit is between about 5 seconds and 2 minutes.

For example, as shown in table 5, the timeout thresholds can bedetermined by article type.

TABLE 5 Article Type 1 2 3 4 5 Maximum 2 10 15 5 8 number of grips Timeout 5 30 60 30 60 threshold (seconds)

Each article type 1-5 can time out after one of two conditions isreached: a maximum number of grips or a time limit is reached. Forexample, article type 1 includes socks and underwear, article type 2includes pants and long-sleeved tee shirts, article type 3 includes openfront or button down shirts, article type 4 includes short-sleeved teeshirts, and article type 5 includes sheets and tablecloths. Article type1 can be a smaller type of laundry article 10 and perhaps one that doesnot require repositioning, such as a sock. The controller may determineafter two grips or 5 seconds of iteratively gripping and releasing thesock that it is repositioned. Article type 3 can include morecomplicated articles that require more grips and longer time span toreach a repositioned state. For example, article type 3 can include abutton down shirt and the method 1100 can time out after one or both of15 grips and 60 seconds. Article type 5 can be a larger and/or longerlaundry article, such as a bed sheet, that requires more handling and alonger time limit. For example, repositioning a queen or king sized bedsheet could take up to 8 grips and 60 seconds to reach a repositionedstate.

Additionally or alternatively, as shown in table 6, the timeoutthresholds can be determined by article weight.

TABLE 6 Article Weight (Kg) <1 1-2.5 2.5-5 5-7.5 7.5-10 Maximum 2 10 1520 20 number of grips Time out 30 60 60 120 120 threshold (seconds)

Additionally or alternatively, as shown in table 7, the timeoutthresholds can be determined by article size.

TABLE 7 Article Size (cm) 4-20 20-30 30-40 40-50 50-75 Maximum 2 5 5 710 number of grips Time out 5 7 7 10 30 threshold (seconds)

Additionally or alternatively, the controller 6005 can determine thatthe method 1100 of repositioning terminates when the one or more sensors6128 a-d, 6040 a-b detect that a surface area of the repositionedarticle is no longer growing.

If at least one of the time out thresholds, e.g., the number of gripsand the time limit, are exceeded, the method 1100 of repositioningterminates. In implementations, this includes releasing the laundryarticle 10 onto the conveyor for transit to either of the folding robot7000 or packing robots 8000 without repositioning. Alternatively,exceeding a timeout threshold comprises releasing the laundry article 10onto the conveyor and restarting the method of repositioning 1100. Ifafter a second restart, the article 10 is not repositioned and thetimeout threshold(s) are reached, then the controller can be configuredto release the article for transfer without having been repositioned.Additionally or alternatively, the controller can be configured totrigger an alert for human intervention, such as an audible or visiblealarm (e.g., flashing light beacon) at the robot 6000 and/or on a bodilyworn haptic feedback device, such a smartwatch or smartphone, or on aGUI of a computer terminal or handheld device in wired or wirelesscommunication with the controller.

In implementations, the time out thresholds are not inclusive ofsettling time, or the time for a laundry to stop swinging after a gripand lift to the suspension height. In implementations, the settling timecan be in a range of about 0.25 to 60 seconds, depending on at least oneof article type, size, and weight. The method can include determining arate of motion of a swinging laundry article and selecting a subsequentgrip point once the rate of motion decreases to a threshold rate and/orrange of distances swept by the laundry article swinging in a pendulummotion. In implementations, the method can further comprise instructingat least one of a pan, tilt, and extend motor to jiggle the arm in adirection opposite an initial swing direction of a gripped article 10 inorder to dampen the swinging motion. For example, when a lifter engagesan article on the floor 6030 of the work volume 6035 and subsequentlyraises the article to a hoist height, the article will naturally swingfrom the raised gripper. The controller can be configured, at or nearthe top of the hoist, to instruct the gripper to quickly move in atleast one zig zag motion to counteract the swinging motion, with theinitial portion of the zig zag being opposite the initial swingdirection of the article. In implementations, the controller is furtherconfigured to anticipate an initial swing direction based on the angleat which an article is hoisted.

Alternatively, in implementations, the method 1100 can include anadditional repositioning determination (not shown) between detectingS1110 the presence of an article 10 and detecting a grip point S1115. Ifa laundry article 10 requires no repositioning from the outset, thecontroller 6005 instructs an engaged gripper to lower the article 10into a container (not shown) dedicated to collecting one or moreunfoldable and/or small articles 10 a-n that do not requirerepositioning or folding (e.g., socks, bikinis, braziers, etc.) or ontothe conveyor 6030 for advancing without repositioning or folding. Inimplementations, the container is configured to be disposed on atransfer conveyor configured to route the container of small and/orunfoldable articles directly to the packing robot 8000, circumventingthe remainder of the process line 100. Additionally or alternatively,the controller can determine a laundry article 10 disposed on theconveyor 6030 does not require repositioning (e.g., a sock, bathingsuit, baby hat, etc.) and instruct the conveyor to transfer the laundryarticle 10 to at least one of a transfer conveyor configured to routearticles directly to the packing robot 8000, circumventing the remainderof the process line 100, or to the folding robot 7000 for passing onthrough the process line 100 to the packing robot 8000 without folding.In the latter implementation the controller 6005 of the repositioningrobot informs the controller 7005 of the folding robot 7000 that thearticle does not require folding via the communication network 230.

In implementations, the method 1100 can include the initial grab of thelaundry article 10 being performed by a lifter associated with the cleanlaundry separating robot 5000 preceding the repositioning robot 6000.The lifter associated with the clean laundry separating robot 5000 canextend into the work volume 6035 of the repositioning robot 6000 suchthat the laundry article 10 does not touch the conveyor 6030 prior torepositioning. In other implementations, the laundry article isintroduced onto the conveyor by clean laundry separating robot 5000, anda lifter 6100 a-d of the repositioning robot 6000 grips the laundryarticle 10 and raises it off of and up from the conveyor 6030 to thesuspension height. In implementations, the clean laundry separatingrobot 5000 could introduce the laundry article 10 to the work volume bydropping it in from a height. Alternatively, a conveyor could place thelaundry article 10 at an edge of the work volume 6035 and the conveyor6030 of the repositioning robot could move the laundry article to acenter of the work area 6032. In implementations an arm 6110 a-dassociated with a lifter 6100 a-d of the repositioning robot could reachoutside of the work volume 6035 to retrieve the laundry article from theclean laundry separating robot 6000.

Once the laundry article 10 is received by the repositioning robot andpositioned within the work area 6032 on the conveyor 6030, thecontroller is configured to determine an initial grip point. Inimplementations, the initial grip point can be a highest point of thearticle 10 lying on the conveyor 6030 as determined by a 3-D sensor. The3-D sensor can be of any of the types of sensors previously described(e.g., a laser range finder, stereo camera, etc.) that detects thehighest point and identifies the coordinates of that highest point. Forexample, the sensor can be at least one of the two or more sensors 6128,6128 a-d, 6040, 6040 a-b previously described with regard toembodiments.

In implementations, the coordinates of an initial grip point aredetermined based on an output signal from a 2D or 3D camera located at afixed location at a known height above the conveyor.

In implementations, the lifters 6100 a-b comprise spherical coordinatearms 6110 a-b for optimizing speed and accuracy of each gripper grabbinga grip point. The spherical coordinate arms 6110 a-d comprise a fineposition control of +/−5 mm.

In implementations, for large articles 10, the controller 6005 can beconfigured to determine a grip point based on a determination of amiddle point or bisector of an article. The controller can be configuredto instruct a third arm to lift the article from the middle grip pointduring a repositioning maneuver or during an initial grip to ensure thelowest point of the article 10 is off the table when the initial grip israised to the suspension height.

Additionally, in implementations, at least one of an initial grab andany subsequent grab comprises a “shake” of the article. Inimplementations, the controller 6005 is configured to drive the at leastone of the pan drive 6310 and tilt drive 6310 of an engage lifter 6100in at least one of alternating side-to-side and alternating up and downmotions to shake a grasped deformable article 10 at the suspensionheight. By shaking an article at the hoist height, the engaged lifter6100 can untangle an article that may be stuck to itself, e.g.,statically attracted or twisted, and can assist with unfurling acrumpled or bunched up article so that it drapes freely for successfulrepositioning.

As described with regard to preceding implementations and with regard totables 3 and 4, the repositioning robot 6000 is a state machine thatautonomously determines a next action based on a current state andreceived sensor signals (e.g., signal(s) output from one or more cameras6128 a-d, 6040 a-b detecting a current state of a deformable laundryarticle 10 within the work volume 6035). FIG. 30 depicts animplementation of a state diagram 1200 for the repositioning robot 6000showing a number of transitions, data inputs, decisions, and behaviorinstances between states of engagement, motion, and disengagement of theone or more lifters 6100 a-d and associated grippers 6105 a-d. Any ofthe implementations described previously with regard to a repositioningrobot 6000 are applicable to implementations described herein withregard to the state diagram 1200.

With a deformable article 10 on the conveyor 6030 (e.g., floor of thework volume) in an initial state 1205 of introduction to therepositioning robot 6000, the controller 6005 instructs one or moresensors 6128 a-d, 6040 a-b to take 1210 a 3D photograph of the articlein the work volume 6035. From this, the controller 6005 executes analgorithm to determine 1215 a highpoint of the article based on the 3Dphotograph. The controller determines which arm 6110 a of a plurality oflifters 6100 a-d is closest to the highpoint and instructs that arm 6110a to grab 1220 the highpoint. Again, the controller 6005 instructs theone or more sensors to take 1225 a 3D photograph of the article 10 inthe work volume and then evaluates 1230 the 3D photograph with a neuralnetwork, as described herein with regard to implementations. Inimplementations, the neural network processing can occur at thecontroller 6005 and/or on another processor in wired or wirelesscommunication with the controller 6005, such as that of remote terminal205.

Based on the output of the neural network, the controller 6005 willdetermine whether the article requires further processing by therepositioning robot to reposition the article for folding or whether thearticle does not require folding (e.g., of a class not suitable forfolding as previously described with regard to implementations ofthreshold timeouts and article size and or type, e.g., socks).

The controller 6005 will determine 1235 a state of the lifters 6100 a-dand whether the article 10 is aloft in the work volume and held by theone gripper 6105 a of the one arm 6110 a that was instructed to engagethe article. If the article is not aloft and held by the one arm, thecontroller 6005 determines that the gripper 6105 a did not engage andlift the article 10 from the work volume floor (e.g., the conveyor6030). The state is determined to be unchanged and the controller 6005returns to the initial processing step of taking 1210 a 3D photograph ofthe article 10 on the conveyor.

If the article 10 is determined to be aloft by one arm 1240 within thework volume (e.g., lifted above the conveyor 6030) and gripped by theone gripper 6105 a of the associated arm 6110 a, the controller 6005instructs one or more sensors 6128 a-d, 6040 a-b to take 1245 a 3Dphotograph of the article aloft (e.g., dangling) in the work volume6035. From this, the controller 6005 executes an algorithm to determine1250 a lowpoint of the article based on the 3D photograph. Inimplementations, the lowpoint can be the lowest detectable point.Additionally or alternatively, the lowpoint can be one or more points onthe article in a lowest 25% or less of the article. The controller 6005determines 1225, based on the 3D photograph, a of the lowest point onthe article 10, either to the left or the right of an axis between thebase of the arm 6110 a and the gripper 6015 a, and based on thedetermined direction, instructs a “next arm” 6110 b of a “next lifter”6100 b to engage its associated gripper 6105 b with the lowpoint. Asdescribed previously with regard to implementations, the direction ofrotation of a shared axis and direction of a next available gripper of a“next lifter” can be predetermined (e.g., CCW, CW). The controller 6005can determine 1265 whether a grab by the “next lifter” 6100 b wasmissed, and instruct the gripper 6105 b of the previous grasp to release1270 the grab, essentially executing a standard release routine ofopening the gripper 6105 b and moving down and/or back from thesuspension height. Based on determining a missed state, the controller6005 will execute the following steps which will attempt again to grabthe low point if the “next arm” 6110 missed the grabbing the low point.

The controller 1275 evaluates one or more concurrently received images,comprising at least one of 3D images and 2D images, with the neuralnetwork to determine a state of the article within the work volume(e.g., determine whether the garment is “repositioned” and ready forfolding).

As depicted in Table 3, the trained classifier of the neural network canresolve that the article 10 is in at least one of the following statesand/or provide a descriptor indicative with next actions comprising thefollowing: on the floor 1280, held by one arm 1285 (e.g., missed grasp),not flat 1290, flat but inverted 1295, and flat 1300. Additionally, insome particular garment cases, such as will be described with regard toimplementations, a next action can be specific to an article type. Forexample, in implementations, a descriptor class comprises an open frontshirt comprising a right side up orientation and a sideways orientation,and optionally comprises a second class comprising the open front of theshirt facing toward available lifters and facing away from availablelifters. In implementations, the first class can be trained on 3D imagesand the second class can be trained on 2-D images. Additionally oralternatively, all of the classes can be trained on 3D images.

If the neural network determines the article is on the floor, thecontroller 6005 determines the repositioning robot is in the initialstate 1205 and returns to instructing the lifters 6100 a-d accordingly.If the neural network determines the article is held aloft by one arm,the controller 6005 returns to the state of being aloft by one arm 1240,moves the engaged arm back to the center of the workspace 6032, andreturns to instructing the lifters 6100 a-d accordingly. Thiseffectively will retry a missed grab in the previously described stateof a “next arm” 6100 missing the grab with its gripper 6105.Additionally or alternatively, in implementations, because a controller6005 might not know whether the first engaged gripper dropped thearticle or whether the gripper of the “next arm” missed a grab, thecontroller 6005 can be configured to determine, based on an input signalof a sensor 6128 a-d, 6040 a-b, where pixels lie in an image anddetermine which gripper is closest to the pixels representing thesuspended article and therefore engaged with the article. As describedpreviously with regard to implementations, the field of view 6042, 6044of a camera sensor 6128, 6128 a-d, 6040 a, 6040 b comprises the entireheight of the work volume 6035 such that a sensor is configured todetect whether a hoisted gripper is engaged with a suspended article 10or missed a grab. If the neural network determines 1265 that the gripperdid not miss a grab, that the grippers of three arms are engaged 1291,and that the article is not flat (e.g., requires additionalrepositioning before the folding robot 7000 can fold the article), thecontroller 6005 instructs the oldest of three engaged grippers torelease its grab, and the controller 6005 returns to the state of taking1245 a 3D photograph of the article aloft in the work volume to instructanother round of grabbing and hoisting to a suspension height SH.

If the neural network resolves that the article is flat but inverted(e.g., upside down from a preferred lowering position), the controller6005 will instruct the two engaged grippers 6105 a-b to lift to the sameheight, bringing 1305 the aloft arms 6110 a-b together in a verticalplane. The controller 6005 instructs one or more sensors 6128 a-d, 6040a-b to take 1310 a 3D photograph of the article aloft (e.g., dangling)in the work volume 6035. From this, the controller 6005 executes analgorithm to determine 1315 the bottom edge corners of the article basedon the 3D photograph. The controller 6005 instructs available (e.g., notengaged with the article) grippers 6105 c-d of unoccupied lifters 6100c-d to engage with 1320 the bottom edge corners. The controller 6005instructs the newly engaged lifters 6100 c-d to hoist 1325 up to thevertical plane of the aloft arms 6110 a-b. The controller 6005 theninstructs the two originally engaged lifters 6100 a-b to release thearticle such that the two most recently engaged lifters 6100 a-d areholding 1335 the article aloft in the work volume. The article is nowflat and no longer inverted.

Flat but inverted articles 10 are typically pants because pant legs arelong and dominate the low point of the hoisted article in the first andsecond grabs. Because pant legs are long, they tend to twist. So in theflat by inverted state, the controller 6005 address this by having twounengaged grippers of two available lifters grab the bottom (e.g.,waistband) of the pants and hoist that up, releasing the previouslygrabbed, potentially twisted legs from the first two hoisted grippers.The pants legs then hang down, untwisted, with the waist band grippedand hoisted to the suspension height.

Grabbing the waistband of a pair of pants that is flat but inverted canbe more efficiently accomplished in implementations of a lifter 6100comprising a wrist assembly, such as the pivoting and swiveling wristassembly 6170 previously described with regard to implementations. Insome instances, the dangling waistband of flat but inverted pants is notstraight but instead curves in a “C” or “U” shape that makes itdifficult for a rigid (non-hinged and non-swiveling) gripper assembly tograsp at an edge. In implementations of an arm comprising a hinged andswiveling wrist assembly, however, the controller can instruct the wristdrive 6355 to move the gripper to a pose that is perpendicular to thedangling edge of the horseshoe. In implementations, the controller 6005can detect an edge by pattern matching the “C” or “U” shape in eachdirection. Alternatively or additionally, because the edges of the “C”or “U” is parallel or approximately parallel to either the x-axis L_(HX)or y-axis L_(HY), the controller 6005 can be configured to align anavailable gripper 6105 parallel to the same x-axis or y-axis, which willbe approximately perpendicular to the alignment of the shared axisbetween the two engaged grippers 6105. Because the gripper 6105comprises a wrist assembly, the gripper can swivel and/or tilt at ahinge joint to assume the pose necessary to align with the edges of thecurved waistband.

Additionally or alternatively, in implementations, detecting an edge ofan article for grasping comprises the controller 6005 receiving a sensorsignal comprising a point cloud and detecting an edge based on a meshdetermination. Additionally or alternatively, in implementations, thecontroller 6005 is configured to execute a principal component analysisin 3D space to determine a pose of the gripper.

Returning now to FIG. 30 , if the neural network resolves that thearticle 10 is flat (and not inverted), the controller 6005 instructs thetwo engaged lifters of the plurality of lifters 6100 a-d to extend botharms 6110 to move toward 1340 one end of the conveyor 6030 and lower1345 until a bottom edge of the article is just above the conveyor. Thecontroller 6005 instructs the arms 6110 of the two engaged lifters ofthe plurality of lifters to retract and lower 1350, sweeping the articleflat onto the conveyor. Once the controller 6005 determines based on atleast one of sensor input determinative of the article being on theconveyor and being a vertical position of the engaged grippers beingdisposed on or slightly above the conveyor floor, the controller 6005instructs the engaged two of the plurality of grippers 6105 a-d torelease 1355 the article. A flat classification determines thecontroller will sweet the article onto the floor for handing off to thefolding robot 7000. A flat article can be a t-shirt held sideways or anopen front shirt facing up and ready for sweeping and subsequentfolding. As described previously, a repositioned, “flat” garment cancomprise a number of wrinkles or bent portions. A flat garment is onethat is repositioned sufficiently for subsequent folding by the foldingrobot 7000.

As previously described with regard to implementations, the controller6005 can determine that an article is stuck to itself, e.g., staticallyattracted or twisted, and can take the action of instructing one or moreof the arms to “shake” the article to assist with unfurling a crumpledor bunched up article so that it drapes freely for successfulrepositioning. As described with regard to implementations, at least oneof an initial grab and any subsequent grab can comprises a “shake” ofthe article. In implementations, the controller 6005 is configured todrive the at least one of the pan drive 6310 and tilt drive 6310 of anengage lifter 6100 in at least one of alternating side-to-side andalternating up and down motions to shake a grasped deformable article 10at the suspension height to untangle, unstick, and/or shake out abunched up article 10.

In implementations, the neural network returns an “on the floor”descriptor 1280 indicative of the article being on the floor (e.g.,conveyor 6030) and the next action begins with the article being on thefloor 1205 and the controller taking a 3D photograph 1210 to determine1215 a high point such that a closest arm grabs 1229 the highpoint for ahoist.

Returning to the state of an open front shirt, the controller 6005 caninstruct one or more arms 6100 a-b based on a determined first class ofopen front shirt comprising a right side up orientation and a sidewaysorientation, and an optionally second class comprising the open front ofthe shirt facing toward available lifters and facing away from availablelifters. FIG. 31A depicts an open front shirt in a right hanging rightside up in the work volume of a repositioning robot, each sleeve graspedby one of two engaged grippers 6105 a-b. In implementations, the trained3-D image classifier of the neural network is configured to identify theopen front shirt and a trained 2-D classifier is configured to determinethat the inside of the shirt if facing two unengaged lifters 6105 c-d.In implementations, the controller 6005 is configured to identify alowest grip point 15 at a bottom corner of the shirt. The controller6005 instructs a gripper 6105 c of an available lifter 6100 c to grabthe lowest grip point 15 and rise to the suspension heigh such that theopen front shirt hanging sideways in the work volume, as shown in FIG.31B, suspended by one sleeve and a bottom corner of the shirt while thefirst engaged gripper 6105 a releases its grip.

In implementations, the controller 6005 determines approximately wheretwo seam points 20 a, 20 b land long a bottom edge of the shirt, whichis oriented vertically, parallel to the z-axis Z. In implementations,lower seam point 20 b can be located approximately three quarters of thedistance down the edge. The controller 6005 can instruct each one of twounengaged grippers 6105 a, d to grab one of the lowest seam point 20 band the lowest point 15′ on the dangling sleeve such that the shirt issuspended by a sleeve and an edge point, as shown in the back facingview of FIG. 32A. The controller can then instruct the two unengagedgrippers 6105 b, 6510 c to grab the lowest seam point 20 a and lowestpoint 15″ on the dangling sleeve. As depicted in FIG. 32B, withoutreleasing any of the engaged grippers 6105 a-d, the four engaged lifters6100 a-d associated with the four engaged grippers 6105 a-d can lay theshirt flat on the workspace floor 6030. (Gripper 6105 d engaged withpoint 20 b is omitted for clarity in FIG. 32B.)

Additionally, or alternatively, in implementations in which the lifters6100 a-d comprise a wrist assembly 6170 comprising swivel and hingejoints, the controller can instruct the grippers 6105 a of the lifters6100 a-d to conduct a series of grips such that two lifters, with wriststilted at their hinge joints, are engaged with corner points of theshirt. Two other grippers with flexible wrists can similarly tilt attheir hinge joints to grab the two seam points 20 a, 20 b, as shown inFIG. 33 . The four engaged grippers can then close the open front shirtwith the sleeves dangling down and then the lifters can sweep the shirtflat on the workspace floor 6030.

In implementations, the hinged wrist assembly 6170 can therefore performone or more “folds” of an article prior to handing the article off to afolding autonomous folding robot 7000. In other implementations, forexample, the repositioning robot can perform similar “pre-sweeping”folds for thin and/or lightweight articles (e.g., silk camisoles, thinscarves) that would be otherwise difficult for the folding robot 7000 toinitiate folding.

Example embodiments of the present inventive concepts may be embodied invarious devices, apparatuses, and/or methods. For example, exampleembodiments of the present inventive concepts may be embodied inhardware and/or in software (including firmware, resident software,micro-code, etc.). Furthermore, example embodiments of the presentinventive concepts may take the form of a computer program productcomprising a non-transitory computer-usable or computer-readable storagemedium having computer-usable or computer-readable program code embodiedin the medium for use by or in connection with an instruction executionsystem. In the context of this document, a computer-usable orcomputer-readable medium may be any medium that can contain, store,communicate, or transport the program for use by or in connection withthe instruction execution system, apparatus, or device.

The computer-usable or computer-readable medium may be, for example butnot limited to, an electronic, magnetic, optical, electromagnetic,infrared, or semiconductor system, apparatus, or device. More specificexamples (a nonexhaustive list) of the computer-readable medium wouldinclude the following: an electrical connection having one or morewires, a portable computer diskette, a random access memory (RAM), aread-only memory (ROM), an erasable programmable read-only memory (EPROMor Flash memory), an optical fiber, and a portable compact discread-only memory (CD-ROM). Note that the computer-usable orcomputer-readable medium could even be paper or another suitable mediumupon which the program is printed, as the program can be electronicallycaptured, via, for instance, optical scanning of the paper or othermedium, then compiled, interpreted, or otherwise processed in a suitablemanner, if necessary, and then stored in a computer memory.

Example embodiments of the present inventive concepts are describedherein with reference to flowchart and/or block diagram illustrations.It will be understood that each block of the flowchart and/or blockdiagram illustrations, and combinations of blocks in the flowchartand/or block diagram illustrations, may be implemented by computerprogram instructions and/or hardware operations. These computer programinstructions may be provided to a processor of a general purposecomputer, a special purpose computer, or other programmable dataprocessing apparatus to produce a machine, such that the instructions,which execute via the processor of the computer or other programmabledata processing apparatus, create means and/or circuits for implementingthe functions specified in the flowchart and/or block diagram block orblocks.

These computer program instructions may also be stored in a computerusable or computer-readable memory that may direct a computer or otherprogrammable data processing apparatus to function in a particularmanner, such that the instructions stored in the computer usable orcomputer-readable memory produce an article of manufacture includinginstructions that implement the functions specified in the flowchartand/or block diagram block or blocks.

The computer program instructions may also be loaded onto a computer orother programmable data processing apparatus to cause a series ofoperational steps to be performed on the computer or other programmableapparatus to produce a computer implemented process such that theinstructions that execute on the computer or other programmableapparatus provide steps for implementing the functions specified in theflowchart and/or block diagram block or blocks.

All of the methods and tasks described herein may be performed and fullyautomated by a computer system. The computer system may, in some cases,include multiple distinct computers or computing devices (e.g., physicalservers, workstations, storage arrays, etc.) that communicate andinteroperate over a network to perform the described functions. Eachsuch computing device typically includes a processor (or multipleprocessors or circuitry or collection of circuits, e.g. a module) thatexecutes program instructions or modules stored in a memory or othernon-transitory computer-readable storage medium. The various functionsdisclosed herein may be embodied in such program instructions, althoughsome or all of the disclosed functions may alternatively be implementedin application-specific circuitry (e.g., ASICs or FPGAs) of the computersystem. Where the computer system includes multiple computing devices,these devices may, but need not, be co-located. The results of thedisclosed methods and tasks may be persistently stored by transformingphysical storage devices, such as solid state memory chips and/ormagnetic disks, into a different state.

Although the subject matter contained herein has been described indetail for the purpose of illustration, it is to be understood that suchdetail is solely for that purpose and that the present disclosure is notlimited to the disclosed embodiments, but, on the contrary, is intendedto cover modifications and equivalent arrangements that are within thespirit and scope of the appended claims. For example, it is to beunderstood that the present disclosure contemplates that, to the extentpossible, one or more features of any embodiment can be combined withone or more features of any other embodiment.

Other examples are within the scope and spirit of the description andclaims. Additionally, certain functions described above can beimplemented using software, hardware, firmware, hardwiring, orcombinations of any of these. Features implementing functions can alsobe physically located at various positions, including being distributedsuch that portions of functions are implemented at different physicallocations.

As used herein, a “neural network” refers to machine learningstructures. Neural networks include one or more layers of “neurons” thateach receive input information and produce an output as, for example, aweighted sum of the inputs with an optional internal bias value withinthe neuron, or some other predetermined function that produces an outputnumeric value based on a combination of the input values to the neuron.The weights that are assigned to different inputs in the structure ofthe neural network are produced during a training process for the neuralnetwork. A simple neural network includes an input layer of neuronsconnected to an output layer of neurons. The output layer of neurons isconfigured to produce outputs based on numeric functions applied to theinputs received at the output layer such as threshold functions withparameters that are produced during a training process. A neural networkmay include “deep” neural networks in which multiple layers of “hidden”neurons are arranged between the input layer and the output layer withvarying structures for the hidden layers including fully connectedlayers where the output of a neuron in a first layer is connected to aninput of each neuron in the next layer or partially connected layerswhere the outputs of neurons in a first layer are only connected toinputs of a portion of the neurons in the next layer.

A “pose” is the position and orientation of an object in a referenceframe. In some embodiments, the pose is a position and orientation of adeformable laundry article. The pose can be specified by a position intwo-(x,y) or three-dimensions (x,y,z) and a heading (θ). The pose canalso be further specified by an orientation including a deformable shapeor volume of the laundry article, which may take into account folds,creases, curves or other shapes and positions of the laundry article.The reference frame may be a global reference frame that is fixed to theenvironment or may be a relative reference frame that is in relationshipto another object in the environment.

“Deformable” means that a shape of an article can be bent or folded.Deformable laundry articles are typically fabric clothing or washablehousehold items as described herein. Deformable laundry articles do nottypically hold a particular or stiff shape when lifted or manipulated.

“Intelligently sorted” refers to grouping or ordering articles, forexample, by size, weight, shape, function, color, fabric type, washingand/or drying requirements or other characteristics.

The foregoing is illustrative of the present invention and is not to beconstrued as limiting thereof. Although a few example embodiments ofthis invention have been described, those skilled in the art willreadily appreciate that many modifications are possible in the exampleembodiments without materially departing from the novel teachings andadvantages of this invention. Accordingly, all such modifications areintended to be included within the scope of this invention as defined inthe claims. Therefore, it is to be understood that the foregoing isillustrative of the present invention and is not to be construed aslimited to the specific embodiments disclosed, and that modifications tothe disclosed embodiments, as well as other embodiments, are intended tobe included within the scope of the appended claims. The invention isdefined by the following claims, with equivalents of the claims to beincluded therein.

What is claimed is:
 1. A robotic system for repositioning a deformable laundry article for folding, comprising: a movable platform disposed at a bottom of a work volume, the movable platform being configured to transit outside the work volume; at least three lifters disposed about a perimeter of the work volume, each one of the at least three lifters being configured to move within the work volume for releasably engaging the deformable laundry article, and operate at least one of independently of and in tandem with another of the at least three lifters to suspend the deformable laundry article above the movable platform, two or more sensors disposed at two or more fixed locations about the work volume, each of the two or more sensors configured to detect the deformable laundry article disposed within the work volume; a memory comprising a neural network; and a controller in operative communication with the memory, the two or more sensors, and the at least three lifters, the controller configured to: receive one or more output signals from one or more of the two or more sensors, determine, based processing on the received one or more output signals with the neural network, whether the deformable laundry article suspended by the one and the another of the at least three lifters is repositioned, and instruct, based on a determination of the deformable laundry article being repositioned, the one and the another of the at least three lifters to lower the repositioned deformable laundry article onto the movable platform.
 2. The system of claim 1 wherein each lifter of the at least three lifters comprises a gripper and at least one drive motor.
 3. The system of claim 2, wherein the at least one drive motor comprises at least one of a pan motor, a tilt motor, and an extend motor configured to engage an extendable arm, the extendable arm comprising no more than one joint and terminating at an associated gripper comprising at least two actuatable fingers.
 4. The system of claim 2, wherein the controller is in operable communication with the gripper and at least one drive motor, and, upon instructing the one and the another of the at least three lifters to lower the repositioned deformable laundry article onto the movable platform, the controller is further configured to instruct the grippers of the one and another of the at least three lifters to release the repositioned deformable laundry article.
 5. The system of claim 1, wherein the at least three lifters are disposed about the movable platform at fixed positions not traced along a single straight line.
 6. The system of claim 1, further comprising tracks, the movable platform being configured to transit on the tracks.
 7. The system of claim 1, wherein the controller is further configured to identify, based on the one or more output signals, one or more grip points adjacent one or more free-hanging edges of the deformable laundry article suspended above the movable platform by one of the at least three lifters, a gripper associated with the one of the at least three lifters being engaged with the deformable laundry article and positioned at a suspension height, and instruct another of the at least three lifters to grip, with an associated gripper, one of the one or more grip points on the deformable laundry article and lift the gripped one of the one or more grip points to the suspension height along a shared axis defined by an associated gripper of each of the engaged one and another lifter.
 8. The system of claim 1, wherein the controller, upon determining the laundry article is not repositioned, is further configured to detect, based on the received one or more output signals, a grip point disposed on the deformable laundry article below a suspension height, instruct an available gripper of the at least three lifters to engage the detected grip point, determine the available gripper is engaged with the grip point, instruct the engaged available gripper to lift the grip point to the suspension height, and instruct the engaged available gripper to release the laundry article.
 9. The system of claim 8, wherein the controller is further configured to iteratively execute a loop comprising detecting, based on the received one or more output signals, a grip point disposed on the deformable laundry article below the suspension height, instructing an available gripper of one of the at least three lifters to engage the grip point, determining the available gripper is engaged with the grip point, instructing the engaged available gripper to lift the grip point to the suspension height, and instructing a longest engaged gripper to release the laundry article, until the controller at least one of: determines the output signal is indicative of a repositioned laundry article, exceeds a threshold number of iterations without determining a match, and exceeds a threshold time limit without determining a match.
 10. The system of claim 1, wherein the at least three lifters are disposed about the work volume at individually anchored positions spaced apart from at least two others of the at least three lifters by between about 30 cm to 400 cm.
 11. The system of claim 10, wherein the two or more sensors comprise at least three sensors, each of one of the at least three sensor is being mounted to a base of the at least three lifters.
 12. The system of claim 1, wherein each one of the two or more sensors is calibrated to at least one of the at least three lifters.
 13. The system of claim 1, wherein the controller is configured instruct the one and the another of the at least three lifters to lower the article onto the movable platform along a non vertical slope.
 14. The system of claim 1, wherein the two or more sensors comprise at least one of a 3-D point cloud sensor, a 2-D camera, LIDAR, LADAR, a sonar proximity sensor, an ultrasonic ranging sensor, a radar sensor, and a pair of stereo depth cameras.
 15. The system of claim 1, wherein the neural network comprises a trained classifier configured to generate a descriptor indicative of trained class comprising at least one of repositioned and not repositioned.
 16. The system of claim 15, wherein the trained classifier comprises a plurality of classes trained on images of at least one of a plurality of article types and sizes of a plurality of laundry articles.
 17. The system of claim 16, wherein the deformable laundry article is one of a plurality of deformable laundry articles comprising two or more article types of at least one of different sizes and different shapes and each of the two or more article types comprises a longest dimension of between about 4 cm to 500 cm.
 18. The system of claim 16, further comprising determining whether the generated descriptor meets or exceeds a threshold confidence value indicative of an unfolded repositioned state.
 19. The system of claim 18, wherein the controller is further configured to adjust the threshold confidence value after at least one of a period of time and a number of grips by grippers associated with the at least three lifters, wherein the period of time is between about 5 seconds and 2 minutes, and wherein the number of grips ranges between about 2 and
 20. 20. The system of claim 1, wherein each of the at least three lifters comprises a monolithic arm comprising no joints and being configured to fixedly receive thereon a wrist assembly comprising an associated gripper and at least one of an actuatable joint disposed between the associated gripper and the monolithic arm, and wherein the actuated joint is in operable communication with the controller.
 21. A method of repositioning a laundry article, comprising: receiving at a controller comprising a memory and a neural network, one or more sensor outputs of one or more sensors configured to detect a laundry article disposed within a work volume of a repositioning robot, wherein the repositioning robot comprises a floor disposed at a bottom of the work volume and three or more lifters disposed about the floor at fixed positions not traced along a single straight line, the three or more lifters being configured to suspend the laundry article at a suspension height within the work volume; processing the received one or more sensor outputs with the neural network; and instructing, based on the processing output of the neural network, one or more motor drives of at least one lifter of the three or more lifters to move the at least one lifter to execute a next action.
 22. The method of claim 21, wherein the neural network comprises a trained classifier and the controller is configured to receive a descriptor output from the trained classifier, the descriptor being one of a plurality of trained classes and the instructed next action being based on one of a plurality of trained classes.
 23. The method of claim 22, wherein the plurality of trained classes are manually tagged on training data comprising a plurality of images of known classes of articles, the images being ascertained by the one or more sensors.
 24. The method of claim 23 wherein the one or more sensors comprise stationary sensors collocated with the three or more lifters and comprising overlapping fields of view trained on the work volume.
 25. The method of claim 23, wherein the plurality of images of the training data comprises at least one of a 2-D camera image and a 3-D point cloud sensor image.
 26. The method of claim 21, wherein, the next action comprises at least one of continue executing an iterative repositioning sequence for a not flat article, sweeping the repositioned article onto the floor, executing a recovery sequence for a missed grab, inverting a flat but inverted article, executing a shirt fold with sleeves gripped, executing a shirt fold with one sleeve and one front corner gripped, retrieving an article on the floor, and executing a shake.
 27. The method of claim 26, wherein the iterative repositioning sequence iteratively comprises an available gripper of the three or more lifters grasping and hoisting a low point of the laundry article to the suspension height of one or more grippers of one or more engaged lifters of the three or more lifters, and releasing the article from an engaged gripper of three engaged grippers.
 28. The method of claim 21, wherein the one or more motor drives are associated with pan, tilt, and extend motors of each of the three or more lifters. 